The Commentariat -- August 20, 2021

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Afternoon Update:

Adam Cancryn & Erin Banco of Politico: "The Food and Drug Administration is on track to approve Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for adults as soon as next week, three people with knowledge of the matter told Politico. The long-anticipated announcement would make Pfizer's Covid-19 shot the first to receive full licensure from the federal government, a milestone in the nation's year-and-a-half pandemic battle." ~~~

     ~~~ From the New York Times' live updates for Friday: "The Food and Drug Administration is pushing to approve Pfizer-BioNTech's two-dose Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, further expediting an earlier timeline for licensing the shot, according to people familiar with the agency's planning."

Ellen Knickmeyer, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden is pledging to Americans still trapped in Afghanistan: 'We will get you home.' Biden also said Friday the United States is committed to evacuating all Afghans who assisted the war effort -- a potentially vast expansion of the administration's commitments on the airlift so far, given the tens of thousands of Afghan translators and others, and their close family members, seeking evacuation. Biden's comments at a White House news conference Friday come as the U.S. government struggles to ramp up a massive airlift clearing Americans and other foreigners and vulnerable Afghans through the Kabul airport.... Evacuation flights at the Kabul airport had stopped for several hours on Friday because of a backup at a transit point for the refugees, a U.S. airbase in Qatar, U.S. officials said. However, flights resumed in the afternoon. As many as three flights out of Kabul were expected in the next few hours, going to Bahrain and carrying perhaps 1,500 evacuees in all, said an official...." ~~~

A baby is lifted over concertina wire into Kabul airport. According to CNN, the baby soon received medical treatment inside the airport. No word on whether or not the mother/family got inside, too:

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The A.F.L.-C.I.O. has chosen Liz Shuler, its acting president since the death of Richard Trumka this month, to lead the federation until it holds elections next June. Ms. Shuler had served as secretary-treasurer, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s second-ranking official, since 2009. The decision to name Ms. Shuler president came at a meeting of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. executive council on Friday, which Ms. Shuler was obligated to call within a few weeks of Mr. Trumka's death under the federation's constitution. Ms. Shuler is the group's first female president."

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied a last-minute petition seeking to halt construction of a presidential library for former President Obama. The court's website indicated on Friday that Barrett rejected a bid from Chicago-based organizations and individuals that said the construction should be halted on environmental grounds. Barrett handles emergency matters emanating from Illinois. She had the option to act on the petition herself or refer it to other justices. The advocacy group Protect Our Parks and several other plaintiffs claimed that federal, state and local governments illegally segmented the project planned for the city's South Side into smaller pieces in order to evade a full assessment of its environmental impacts.... The Supreme Court petition was submitted on Monday -- the same day construction on the project began. It came after both a rejection from a lower court of the arguments and a previous failure at the Supreme Court level to block construction of the library on different legal grounds."

Meet Some Excellent GOP Leaders:

Louisiana. Sam Carlin of the (Baton Rouge) Advocate: "Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins has once again threatened someone on Facebook with violence. The Lafayette Republican, who has a long history of bizarre social media antics, told an Alaska man named Joel Dolphin who commented on one of his posts that Higgins is 'easy to find,' and suggested he is prepared to fight the man when he visits Alaska next year. 'I'll be in Alaska next year, with (U.S. Rep.) Don Young,' Higgins wrote after Dolphin said he'd be happy to reiterate his criticisms face-to-face with the congressman. '... Like I said. I'm easy to find. Locate us a ring, or a dojo. I'll give you a few rounds to make your point. Be seeing you. Higgins out.'... Higgins, who has easily won reelection twice since taking office in the conservative 3rd District in 2016..., gained notoriety as a St. Landry Parish sheriff's deputy by filming CrimeStoppers segments where he sternly demanded that criminals surrender, often using insults."

Minnesota. Briana Bierschbach & Alex Chhith of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune: "Minnesota Republican leaders forced Jennifer Carnahan out as head of the state party on Thursday, turning a page on a scandal that threatened to consume GOP politics ahead of a pivotal election year. Carnahan leaves as chair of the party amid allegations that she created a toxic workplace environment, one that blurred personal and professional lines, ignored concerns about sexual harassment and retaliated against employees who didn't fall in line. The party's 15-member executive board voted 8-7 to give Carnahan a severance of three months salary, roughly $38,000, to leave her role. Carnahan, who attended the meeting virtually, was the deciding vote to give herself severance on the way out. The board also approved investigations into the party's finances and human resources protocols."

Texas. What Have the Black People Done Wrong Today? Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "Responding to a question by Fox "News" host Laura Ingraham about rising Covid cases, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said,] 'Democrats like to blame Republicans on that.... Well, the biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked, over 90 percent of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties.'... While vaccination rates are low among Black Texans, the highest coronavirus case rates are among Whites and Hispanics."

Arizona. Cyber Ninjas Must Release Docs to Watchdog Group. Caroline Vakil of the Hill: "The Arizona Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled that the leading contractor of Arizona's audit of the Maricopa County 2020 election results must turn over documents related to the effort. American Oversight, a watchdog group, has been seeking documents regarding the county's recount and audit, which was initiated because former President Trump disputed the 2020 election results in battle ground states like Arizona. The watchdog group had been involved in a legal fight with Arizona's Senate over the public release of the documents, The Associated Press reported."

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of developments in Afghanistan Friday are here: "As the United States tries to ramp up its troubled evacuation in Afghanistan, President Biden is expected on Friday to address the furor over the sluggish process, stymied by mayhem in Kabul and delays in Washington, that threatens to strand thousands of Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban takeover. Mr. Biden, who is expected to speak at 1 p.m. in Washington, has defended the pullout from Afghanistan, while promising not to abandon Afghans who risked their lives by working for the U.S. government during the war." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of developments in Afghanistan Friday are here.

Natasha Bertrand, et al., of CNN: "While the US State Department continues to engage in high-level diplomatic talks with the Taliban in the neutral setting of Doha, Qatar, as it has for the past year, the real negotiations have moved to the chaotic streets of Kabul in recent days, where American military commanders are in constant communication with Taliban militants over security around the airport. In an extraordinary move, the top US commander in Afghanistan, Adm. Peter Vasely, has been leading the effort to negotiate with his Taliban counterpart to maintain security at the Kabul airport and ensure the safety of both Americans and Afghans hoping to escape. So far, talks have produced mixed results at best.... One White House official said that while the US has several channels to the militant group, officials are still unclear about which Taliban fighters control what, and whether instructions are being properly passed down the chain of command."

Tony Blinken Has Some Explaining to Do. Lara Jakes, et al., of the New York Times: "A sluggish State Department response to the Taliban's rapid takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, has stranded thousands of Afghans who helped the United States and are now clamoring to be evacuated as they wait for their immigration visas to be approved, two U.S. officials said. As many as 6,000 people -- including former interpreters and cultural and political advisers -- were on standby to be flown out of Kabul's airport late on Thursday night or early Friday alone, after a days-long pause in the processing of visas for Afghans who had worked for the American military or embassy during the 20-year war, the State Department said. Thousands more are expected to be vetted and evacuated on a daily basis after a small influx of consular officers and other diplomats -- including the former ambassador to Afghanistan, John R. Bass -- arrived in Kabul on Thursday to speed the visa processing. Diplomats are also deploying to Qatar and Kuwait, where U.S. military bases will serve as way stations for people arriving from Afghanistan as they search for a final destination....

"Two ... U.S. officials described growing impatience across the Biden administration with the State Department's inability to process visas more quickly.... Officials also echoed refugee advocates, who accused the State Department of having been caught flat-footed in processing the special immigrant visas for Afghans...."

Ezzatullah Mehrdad, et al., of the Washington Post: "A chaotic and dangerous dynamic at Kabul's airport showed few signs of relenting Thursday as thousands of people attempting to board flights faced beatings by Taliban guards, the crush of heaving crowds and interminable spells in the dust and heat while waiting to escape Afghanistan.... Several people said Thursday they had received confusing signals from the United States about how exactly they were supposed to leave, citing emails from the State Department urging them to go the airport, only to find there was no one to receive them or to answer their questions on how to board flights.... A a confidential threat assessment prepared for the United Nations ... [said] Taliban militants are going house to house, setting up checkpoints and threatening to arrest or kill relatives of 'collaborators' in major cities, the assessment said.... Deutsche Welle said a close relative of one of its journalists had been killed by Taliban fighters ... [during a] house to house [search' for the journalist...."

Friends in High Places. Michael Grynbaum & others at the New York Times detail how management at the NYT, Wall Street Journal & Washington Post pulled strings to help a group of about 200 Afghan aides to their newspapers get out of Afghanistan. MB: I often put myself in the shoes of the unfortunate. I would not have had the Post's publisher contacting the National Security Advisor to save me.

"Greatest Military in the World" Not as Good as French & British Forces. James Webb of the Military Times: "As the [U.S.] Defense Department continues to stick to its plans of not reaching out into Kabul to assist U.S. personnel and Afghan helpers evacuate, British and French forces have done so to rescue their citizens, multiple outlets report.... [U.S.] Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday that despite the U.S. having at least 5,000 troops on the ground, he does not have the 'capability' to reach out beyond [the Kabul airport].... Austin's comments come amid reports of both British and French military units doing precisely that, pushing out into Kabul to secure the safety of their citizens.... The Daily Mail report[s] that the British contingent numbers less than 1,000 troops."

Carlotta Gall, et al., of the New York Times: "The Taliban cracked down on protests that erupted in at least four cities in Afghanistan on Thursday and rounded up opponents despite promises of amnesty, even as fearful workers stayed home and thousands of people continued a frenzied rush to leave the country. Even as the Taliban moved to assert control, hundreds of protesters took to the streets for a second day to rally against their rule, this time marching in Kabul, the capital, as well as other cities. Again, the Taliban met them with force, using gunfire and beatings to disperse crowds. And again the actions of Taliban foot soldiers undermined the leadership's suggestions that, having taken power, they would moderate the brutality they have long been known for. The police officers who served the old government have melted away, and instead armed Taliban fighters are operating checkpoints and directing traffic, administering their notions of justice as they see fit, with little consistency from one to another."

Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Columns of Afghan soldiers in armored vehicles and pickup trucks sped through the desert to reach Iran. Military pilots flew low and fast to the safety of Uzbekistan's mountains. Thousands of Afghan security force members managed to make it to other countries over the past few weeks as the Taliban rapidly seized the country. Others managed to negotiate surrenders and went back to their homes -- and some kept their weapons and joined the winning side.... But tens of thousands of other Afghan grunts, commandos and spies who fought to the end, despite the talk in Washington that the Afghan forces simply gave up, have been left behind. They are now on the run, hiding and hunted by the Taliban. Accounts of the Taliban searching for people they believe worked with and fought alongside U.S. and NATO forces are beginning to trickle out, offering a bloody counterpoint to the kinder and gentler face the militants have been trying to present to the world."

Tony Blinken Has Some Explaining to Do. Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "About two dozen diplomats working at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan warned Secretary of State Antony Blinken in July that Kabul risked falling to the Taliban shortly after the military's withdrawal, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The classified cable, sent through the State Department's confidential dissent channel, detailed swift gains by the Taliban throughout the country, the collapse of Afghan forces and offered recommendations for speeding up evacuation efforts.... The cable urged the State Department to begin registering and collecting personal data of Afghan interpreters and other allies who qualify for special immigrant visas to leave the country and said the U.S. should begin evacuation flights no later than Aug. 1.... House Foreign Affairs Committee ... ranking member Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said he wants a full readout on this cable and any other warnings given to the administration."

Here's the full transcript of George Stephanopoulos' interview of President Biden, at least part of which aired on ABC's evening news Wednesday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tom Friedman of the New York Times pretends to interview "President Lyndon Johnson, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mohammed Zahir Shah, the last king of Afghanistan" about President Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. Thanks to Lynn U. for the link.

Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "Some former senior Trump officials now call [the 2020 agreement Donald Trump & Mike Pompeo made with the Taliban] fatally flawed, saying it did little more than provide cover for a pullout that Mr. Trump was impatient to begin before his re-election bid. They also say it laid the groundwork for the chaos unfolding now in Kabul. 'Our secretary of state signed a surrender agreement with the Taliban,' Mr. Trump's second national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said of Mr. Pompeo during a podcast interview with the journalist Bari Weiss on Wednesday. 'This collapse goes back to the capitulation agreement of 2020. The Taliban didn't defeat us. We defeated ourselves.' And in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said that, while President Biden 'owns' the ultimate outcome in Afghanistan, Mr. Trump had earlier 'undermined' the agreement through his barely disguised impatience to exit the country with little apparent regard for the consequences." Both Trump & Pompeo have harshly criticized President Biden, but their excuses for their own actions & inactions don't hold up to even cursory fact-checking.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. How would you like to be in Kabul today, as an American, and you can't get to the airport? Where are you thinking your life is headed? If you're one of those family members, I bet you're not sleeping.... MyPillow.com. That.s where I go. I fall asleep faster, I stay asleep longer. -- Sean Hannity on his radio show, Aug. 17, 2021

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday refiled a bolstered version of its antitrust case against Facebook. In the complaint, the agency argues that Facebook holds monopoly power in personal social networking, with no other competitor coming close.... The refiling is the FTC's attempt to course correct after it suffered a stunning setback earlier this summer, when a federal judge threw out its suit against the tech giant, along with a similar case from state attorneys general. The Facebook case is the most high-profile challenge that the agency has brought against a tech company in decades, and it's widely being watched as a bellwether of the growing movement in Washington to curb concentrating in the tech industry." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "When Lauren Boebert, the pistol-packing Republican firebrand, was running for Congress last year, she traced her income to Shooters Grill, a restaurant she and her husband own in Rifle, Colo. She suggested her husband did some consulting, listing 'Boebert Consulting -- spouse' on her candidate form, but identified his income source as 'N/A.' Only now, with Boebert not just in Congress but on the House Natural Resources Committee, has she revealed that her husband made $478,000 last year working as a consultant for an energy firm. He made $460,000 the year before, she disclosed in a filing Tuesday with the House of Representatives. Her husband, Jayson Boebert, earned that income as a consultant for Terra Energy Productions, according to the filing.... Federal law requires members of Congress, as well as candidates, to file financial disclosure statements that include the income and assets of spouses and dependent children... Kedric Payne..., a former deputy chief counsel in the Office of Congressional Ethics..., said the matter should be reviewed by the Office of Congressional Ethics.... An intentional failure 'could be criminal,' he said, with the potential to result in 'large fines and possible imprisonment.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm shocked, shocked to learn that this lovely young representative of the people might be engaging in a criminal plot to enrich herself & her family. She seemed so sweet.

This "Accidental Tourist" Is Also a Liar. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Even after Robert Reeder pleaded guilty to illegally picketing inside the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, he remained adamant that he was innocent of the worst allegations leveled against him. Prosecutors argued that Reeder actively participated in chants with rioters and egged on the aggressive crowd, though they could not show that he participated in any violence.... Reeder, a former FedEx driver from Maryland, told FBI agents that he was merely an 'accidental tourist' who got swept up in the crowd. The 55-year-old denied engaging in or inciting violence, according to a sentencing memorandum.... But new video from Jan. 6 that surfaced just before his sentencing hearing on Wednesday upended ... the case.... A group of online sleuths known by the moniker 'Sedition Hunters' said on Twitter that it sent the footage to the FBI about four hours before the court hearing. The group also shared the videos on social media."

Dana Hedgpeth, et al., of the Washington Post: "A man who claimed to have a bomb with him in a pickup truck near the Library of Congress surrendered to authorities Thursday afternoon, ending an hours-long standoff in the heart of the nation's capitol. U.S. Capitol Police said in a Twitter message that they were checking a suspicious vehicle near the Library of Congress. The Cannon, Jefferson and Madison office buildings have been evacuated. Police said there is a possible explosive device in the pickup truck, though no explosives have been found at this point.... Two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation identified the man as Floyd Ray Roseberry of North Carolina." Roseberry, who apparently was live-streaming on Facebook from his truck, said there were other vehicles in the area that were set to explode, too. He was demanding to speak to President Biden & talked about a revolution. MB: According to MSNBC, Roseberry demanded that Biden resign so that Donald Trump can be returned to office. Nicole Wallace of MSNBC noted out that Roseberry's threats & actions were consistent with the nature of Homeland Security's recent warnings of domestic terrorism threats. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Emily Cochrane & Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "The United States Capitol Police were negotiating with a man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress on Thursday, prompting evacuations from government buildings in the area. The man drove a black pickup onto the sidewalk of the Library of Congress at about 9:15 Thursday morning.... The man, whom officials identified as a North Carolina resident, was making anti-government statements, according to a law enforcement official." Update: "Andy Stone, a spokesman for Facebook, confirmed that the company had taken down the man's profile from the site and Instagram, and removed a post with a video broadcast from the truck. The company said it would also remove any posts supporting or praising the man." A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ ** Mo Brooks Sympathizes with Bomber Suspect. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Several members of Congress, including at least one Republican [Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)], have harshly criticized Rep. Mo Brooks after the Alabama Republican released a statement appearing to commiserate with a man who on Thursday had lodged a bomb threat near the U.S. Capitol.... [The family of the man, Floyd] Roseberry ... told The Washington Post that he disliked [President] Biden's policies and was a supporter of ... Donald Trump.... 'Although this terrorist's motivation is not yet publicly known, and generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society,' Brooks said. 'The way to stop Socialism's march is for patriotic Americans to fight back in the 2022 and 2024 elections. I strongly encourage patriotic Americans to do exactly that more so than ever before.' Nowhere in his statement did Brooks outright denounce the bomb threat. He instead ended on an ominous note. 'Bluntly stated, America's future is at risk,' he said." ~~~

~~~ Apparently Mo is not as bright as most wingers, whom Steve M. correctly predicted would label the incident a false flag "cooked up by the Democrats to distract us from Afghanistan." One winger tags Roseberry as "an FBI crisis actor" & another saw the threat as a false flag designed to "take away our guns." Steve: "It won't matter if the next would-be revolutionary actually destroys multiple city blocks or kills dozens of people -- the right will still say it's a Biden/Deep State/(Soros?)/(Bill Gates?) false flag. They'll insist to the end that 100% of the evil in the world is on our side."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "The Texas Education Agency said it would temporarily stop enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on mask mandates and the State Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing school districts to require face-coverings. Both decisions are temporary. The agency said in new guidance on Thursday that it would immediately stop enforcing the ban on mask mandates until litigations were resolved. In a reversal, the agency's new guidance requires schools to notify their local health department if a student tests positive. The school must also notify students in the same classroom as well as those who share extracurricular activities." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.

Three U.S. Senators -- a Democrat, a Republican & an Independent -- Walked into a Bar. They All Came Out with Covid. Feliciz Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Angus King (I-Maine) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) announced Thursday that they have tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the latest members of the Senate to announc breakthrough infections in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said he had tested positive for the virus. All four senators have been vaccinated." The Hill's story is here.

This. Could. Not. Be. More. Idiotic. Dan Goldberg of Politico: "Republican governors in some of the states hardest hit by the pandemic are pushing expensive Covid cocktails over cheap masks. The governors in Florida, Missouri and Texas are promising millions of dollars in antibody treatments for infected people even as they oppose vaccine and mask mandates, saying they can potentially keep people with mild Covid symptoms out of hospitals that are being swamped by new cases. But the treatments and cost of providing them are thousands of dollars more than preventive vaccines, and tricky to administer because they work best early in the course of an infection. The push to medicate rankles public health officials and some within the Biden administration, who say the governors' stance misleadingly implies Covid-19 can be treated easily, like the common cold. They note treatments like Regeneron's antibody cocktail -- which was administered to ... Donald Trump during his bout with the disease -- are essential but part of a limited arsenal to keep patients from being hospitalized or dying, not a game-changer that could help end the pandemic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan. Laina Stebbins of Michigan Advance: "A GOP bill to preemptively prohibit mandatory employee vaccinations saw the light of day Thursday, in a House committee hearing saturated with COVID-19 conspiracy theories and anti-vaxxer rhetoric. House Bill 4471, introduced by state Rep. Sue Allor (R-Wolverine), would create the 'informed consent in the workplace act' to prevent employers from 'discriminating' against individuals who have refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19, influenza, tetanus, diphtheria and/or pertussis. The state has not issued vaccination mandates. Some employers, including Spectrum Health and Henry Ford Health System, have issued their own vaccine requirements for employees. The hearing comes as COVID-19 cases are again jumping in Michigan, mostly due to the more contagious Delta variant. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Wednesday that a total of 925,377 Michiganders have tested positive and 20,076 have died from the virus.... All speakers who testified during the hearing espoused misleading or demonstrably false statements about vaccines and COVID-19. Most have been regulars at anti-vax protests and events in Michigan." ~~~

~~~ Steve Neavling of the Detroit Metro Times: "Police are investigating a man who flashed a Nazi salute and chanted 'Heil Hitler' ... while a Black woman and Jewish woman were addressing the [Birmingham (Michigan) School B]oard about their support for the mask ... mandate for students. Unruly anti-maskers booed and hurled insults at board members and speakers, including a high school student, who spoke in favor of face coverings during the meeting Wednesday evening. The anti-maskers spewed falsehoods about COVID-19, telling board members that masks are dangerous and that children aren't at risk of spreading the virus, despite a plethora of evidence to the contrary. Several parents said they're removing their children from school because of the mandate. The remarks came after the board and superintendent announced that students, staff, and teachers will be required to wear masks indoors for the start of the school year.&"

Texas. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Hospitals in North Texas have 'quietly developed' a plan to allow doctors to take vaccination status into account when deciding how to triage intensive-care beds if the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms ICUs, The Dallas Morning News reports.... The change will only occur during a Level 3 alert, which could happen within two weeks." MB: The idea here is that hospitals would give precedence to vaccinated patients over the unvaccinated. Vaccine holdouts might want to weigh this possibility against their freedumb.

Beyond the Beltway

California Gubernatorial Recall. At Least One Toke Over the Line. Carla Marinucci of Politico: "Alexandra Datig, the former fiancee and longtime radio producer for California GOP gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder, says she broke off an 18-month engagement with the conservative talk show host in 2015 after he waved a gun at her while high on marijuana.... Elder has gained momentum in the recall to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, with many observers counting him as the likeliest GOP alternative should voters decide to replace the incumbent." ~~~

~~~ Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of CNN: Larry "Elder has long relished making provocative comments in his time as a radio host and columnist..... He has mocked premenstrual syndrome, known as PMS.... He prominently promoted on his webpage a 1950s textbook on 'how to be a good wife' that said women should 'have dinner ready' and told them, 'Don't complain.' He reposted an article on his website comparing single mothers on welfare to stray cats. Elder has already faced some backlash for derogatory remarks he made about women in a 2000 column, in which he wrote that 'Women know less than men about political issues, economics, and current events.'... [In] January 2017.., he implied women taking part in the Women's March were too unattractive to be sexually assaulted, according to the Los Angeles Times. In [a] ... comment from a January 2017 radio show, Elder mocked women attending the Women's March as 'obese.' 'When you look at all these women that have marched -- something like 2 million women -- Donald Trump has probably gotten more obese woman off the couch and in the streets, working out, than Michelle Obama did in eight years.'..."

Iowa. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A white Iowa woman who admitted that she had tried to kill two children because of their race in 2019 by hitting them with her car was sentenced on Thursday to 25 years in prison on two federal hate crime charges, officials said. The woman, Nicole Poole Franklin, 43 of Des Moines, Iowa, had already been sentenced in May to 25 years in prison on state charges of attempted murder in the attacks. The federal sentence will be served concurrently with the state term, which means, in effect, that she will spend more time in prison, according to Richard D. Westphal, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa.... Court documents described a harrowing pair of unprovoked attacks by Ms. Poole Franklin on Dec. 9, 2019, as she drove her Jeep Grand Cherokee by children who she believed were Middle Eastern, African or Mexican."

News Lede

Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Henri is expected to strengthen into a hurricane over the Atlantic, but its exact path and strength when it draws closer to New England are still uncertain. Residents of the Northeast U.S., especially New England and Long Island, should monitor Henri's progress closely since it may bring wind, rain and storm surge impacts to parts of the region late this weekend into early next week. A hurricane watch has been issued for Long Island from Fire Island Inlet and from Port Jefferson Harbor eastward, as well as from New Haven, Connecticut, to Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts, including Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Block Island."

The Commentariat -- August 19, 2021

Marie: Reality Chex is not accepting comments, through no design or fault of my own. If you have a log-in, as a few of you do, you can comment on your own while you're logged in. If not, you can email me @ constantweader@gmail.com , and I'll post your comments for you. I've written to Squarespace to get them to fix the problem, but I don't expect immediate, or even timely, satisfaction. If you don't remember how to log in, send me an email, and I'll tell you. Also, if you don't have a log-in ID, email it to me (I think it has to be at least 8 characters), and I'll tell you how to proceed from there. With any luck, all this soon will become unnecessary.

Afternoon Update:

Dana Hedgpeth, et al., of the Washington Post: "A man who claimed to have a bomb with him in a pickup truck near the Library of Congress surrendered to authorities Thursday afternoon, ending an hours-long standoff in the heart of the nation's capitol. U.S. Capitol Police said in a Twitter message that they were checking a suspicious vehicle near the Library of Congress. The Cannon, Jefferson and Madison office buildings have been evacuated. Police said there is a possible explosive device in the pickup truck, though no explosives have been found at this point.... Two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation identified the man as Floyd Ray Roseberry of North Carolina." Roseberry, who was live-streaming on Facebook from his truck, said there were other vehicles in the area that were set to explode, too. He was demanding to speak to President Biden & talked about a revolution. MB: According to MSNBC, Roseberry demanded that Biden resign. Nicole Wallace of MSNBC pointed out that Roseberry's threats & actions were consistent with the nature of Homeland Security's recent warnings of domestic terrorism threats. ~~~

~~~ Emily Cochrane & Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "The United States Capitol Police were negotiating with a man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress on Thursday, prompting evacuations from government buildings in the area. The man drove a black pickup onto the sidewalk of the Library of Congress at about 9:15 Thursday morning.... The man, whom officials identified as a North Carolina resident, was making anti-government statements, according to a law enforcement official." Update: "... A spokesman for Facebook confirmed that the company had taken down the man's profile from the site and Instagram, and removed a post with a video broadcast from the truck. The company said it would also remove any posts supporting or praising the man." A CNN report is here.

New York Times: "The United States Capitol Police were negotiating with a man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress on Thursday, prompting evacuations from government buildings in the area. The man drove a black pickup onto the sidewalk of the Library of Congress at about 9:15 Thursday morning.... The man, whom officials identified as a North Carolina resident, was making anti-government statements, according to a law enforcement official." A CNN report is here.

Here's the full transcript of George Stephanopoulos' interview of President Biden, at least part of which aired on ABC evening news Wednesday night.

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday refiled a bolstered version of its antitrust case against Facebook. In the complaint, the agency argues that Facebook holds monopoly power in personal social networking, with no other competitor coming close.... The refiling is the FTC's attempt to course correct after it suffered a stunning setback earlier this summer, when a federal judge threw out its suit against the tech giant, along with a similar case from state attorneys general. The Facebook case is the most high-profile challenge that the agency has brought against a tech company in decades, and it's widely being watched as a bellwether of the growing movement in Washington to curb concentration in the tech industry."

This. Could. Not. Be. More. Idiotic. Dan Goldberg of Politico: "Republican governors in some of the states hardest hit by the pandemic are pushing expensive Covid cocktails over cheap masks. The governors in Florida, Missouri and Texas are promising millions of dollars in antibody treatments for infected people even as they oppose vaccine and mask mandates, saying they can potentially keep people with mild Covid symptoms out of hospitals that are being swamped by new cases. But the treatments and cost of providing them are thousands of dollars more than preventive vaccines, and tricky to administer because they work best early in the course of an infection. The push to medicate rankles public health officials and some within the Biden administration, who say the governors' stance misleadingly implies Covid-19 can be treated easily, like the common cold. They note treatments like Regeneron's antibody cocktail -- which was administered to ... Donald Trump during his bout with the disease -- are essential but part of a limited arsenal to keep patients from being hospitalized or dying, not a game-changer that could help end the pandemic."

Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "When Lauren Boebert, the pistol-packing Republican firebrand, was running for Congress last year, she traced her income to Shooters Grill, a restaurant she and her husband own in Rifle, Colo. She suggested her husband did some consulting, listing 'Boebert Consulting -- spouse' on her candidate form, but identified his income source as 'N/A.' Only now, with Boebert not just in Congress but on the House Natural Resources Committee, has she revealed that her husband made $478,000 last year working as a consultant for an energy firm. He made $460,000 the year before, she disclosed in a filing Tuesday with the House of Representatives. Her husband, Jayson Boebert, earned that income as a consultant for Terra Energy Productions, according to the filing.... Federal law requires members of Congress, as well as candidates, to file financial disclosure statements that include the income and assets of spouses and dependent children... Kedric Payne..., a former deputy chief counsel in the Office of Congressional Ethics..., said the matter should be reviewed by the Office of Congressional Ethics.... An intentional failure 'could be criminal,' he said, with the potential to result in 'large fines and possible imprisonment.'"

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The New York Times' live updates of developments in Afghanistan Thursday are here: "As the Taliban celebrated the anniversary of the nation's independence from Britain more than a century ago, they reaffirmed an 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' on Thursday, even as tens of thousands sought flee the country.... The mammoth evacuation effort gathered pace, with Afghan refugees and international repatriates landing in Europe, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere.... The road to the airport has been particularly dangerous, with Taliban patrolling checkpoints.... The Pentagon, which has deployed 5,000 U.S. troops to secure the airport, said that it had asked the Taliban to allow safe passage for American citizens, but that it did not have the ability to go out and fetch people from Kabul or other cities.... A Spanish military plane landed before dawn at Torrejon air base outside Madrid, one of three aircraft that the Spanish defense ministry has sent to evacuate citizens and Afghans who worked with the Spanish government, along with their families." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of Afghanistan developments Thursday are here: "Waheedullah Hashimi, a high-ranking Taliban commander, told Reuters that [Afghanistan] would probably be governed by a council under sharia law. The movement's supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, is likely to remain in charge, above the head of the council, whose role he likened to a president. 'There will be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country,' Hashimi said. 'We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is sharia law and that is it.' The Taliban has a particularly strict interpretation of sharia law. It has said that women's rights will be respected under the framework of the religious code and Hashimi told Reuters issues like what women can wear will be determined by a council of Islamic scholars."

Sarah Kolinovsky of ABC News: "In an exclusive interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, and the president's first since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, President Joe Biden stood firm in his defense of the United States' withdrawal, but asserted for the first time that he believes the chaos was unavoidable." ~~~

~~~ Molly Nagle of ABC News: "In an ... interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is committed to getting every American out of Afghanistan -- even if it means potentially extending the mission beyond his Aug. 31 deadline for a total withdrawal.... Biden told ABC News that in addition to the 10,000 to 15,000 Americans who need to be evacuated, there are between 50,000 and 65,000 Afghans and their families the U.S. also wants to get out." ~~~

~~~ Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "As President Biden last month defended his decision to end the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, he delivered a promise as old as the war itself to the Afghans who had risked their lives to assist American troops. 'Our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States, if you so choose,' the president said. 'We will stand with you, just as you stood with us.' But his decision not to begin a mass evacuation of Afghan interpreters, guides and their relatives earlier this year has left thousands of people in limbo, stranded in a country now controlled by the Taliban after 20 years of war. Even before Mr. Biden announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops, his administration rejected frantic calls from lawmakers and activists to evacuate Afghans, who now find themselves in jeopardy.... Mr. Biden instead took steps to streamline a visa system plagued with backlogs, even though it was never intended for the mass transfer of people in a short amount of time. And in the United States, some officials were expressing concerns about potential political blowback over an influx of refugees." ~~~

~~~ ** Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration moved slowly for months to address the plight of vulnerable Afghans who had worked for the United States even as a deadline for U.S. military withdrawal loomed, refugee advocates said -- a lull some blamed on White House concern that the influx would invite partisan political backlash amid a rush of migrants at the southern border. Afghans who served as interpreters, fixers and other staff for the U.S. military and diplomats over the nearly 20-year U.S. military mission were among thousands evacuated in recent days, following the stunning collapse of the U.S.-backed government. Getting thousands more out of the country is a top priority now ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline to exit, the nation's top military officials said Wednesday. 'We have a moral obligation to help those who helped us, and I feel the urgency deeply,' Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the Pentagon.... But the administration showed little public urgency to expedite visas for Afghans in the months before and immediately after Biden's announcement in April that the United States would pull U.S. forces out." Read on.

digby points out that the U.S. & allies have nearly $10 billion in chips to play against the Taliban inasmuch as the West, particularly the U.S., is holding Taliban assets in that amount.

THIS. Intel Agencies Did Not Tell Biden Collapse Was Imminent. Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Intelligence reports presented to President Biden in the final days before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan this past week failed to predict the imminence of the Afghan government's collapse, even after their earlier warnings had grown increasingly grim, senior intelligence and defense officials said on Wednesday. The intelligence agencies had been stepping up their warnings about the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan throughout the summer. Their reports grew more specific in July, noting how the Taliban had taken control of roads leading to Kabul and how the group had learned lessons from its takeover of the country in the 1990s. But senior administration officials acknowledged that as the pace of White House meetings on Afghanistan grew more frenzied in August and in the days leading up to the Taliban takeover this weekend, the intelligence agencies did not say the collapse was imminent. 'As the president indicated, this unfolded more quickly than we anticipated, including in the intelligence community,' Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, said in a statement to The New York Times." ~~~

~~~ AND THIS. Julian Borger, et al., of the Guardian: "Both the Trump and Biden administrations were warned by US intelligence that the Afghan army's resistance to the Taliban could collapse 'within days' after an over-hasty withdrawal, according to a former CIA counter-terrorism chief.... On Wednesday, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley told reporters: 'There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army or this government in 11 days.' Speaking to the nation on Monday, Biden said: 'The truth is: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.' Douglas London, the CIA's former counter-terrorism chief for south and south-west Asia, said the president was being 'misleading at best.... The CIA anticipated it as a possible scenario,' London said. London left his post in 2019 but served as a volunteer adviser to the Biden campaign. In a detailed account on the Just Security website on Wednesday, he described intelligence briefings to the Trump and Biden teams which gave different estimates of how long Ghani and the Afghan forces could endure a Taliban offensive, depending on the speed and depth of the US retreat." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Both can be true; that is, imminent collapse was one of several possibilities presented. IMO, the government's biggest failure was not rushing the paperwork to clear U.S. assets & their families for emigration in the months before the collapse. While it might have been a mistake to actually put these people on planes, it would have shown reasonable foresight to hand them the documentation they needed to beat a hasty exit. And, for Pete's sake, why not keep Bagram Airfield open for U.S. & allied flights?

Yuliya Talmazan & Mushtaq Yusufzai of NBC News: "Images of the Taliban cracking down on a protest and bloodied women and children beaten by fighters are contradicting the more moderate image the militant group has been trying to project as it tries to consolidate power in Afghanistan. Less than 24 hours after the Taliban spokesperson delivered security guarantees during a press conference in Kabul, the militants on Wednesday tried to stop locals from installing Afghanistan's national black, red and green flag in the eastern city of Jalalabad, according to local resident Anwar Khan. A former police official told Reuters four people had been killed in the protest and 13 injured. Afghanistan's Pajhwok news agency shared video of what it said was the incident, showing crowds running as gunfire was heard. NBC News was not able to verify the footage." MB: The idea that Taliban leadership has control over its far-flung soldiers is rather fanciful. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Henry Austin of NBC News: "Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has been 'welcomed' into the United Arab Emirates on 'humanitarian grounds,' the country's foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday. Ghani fled Afghanistan as the Taliban approached Kabul, the capital, on Sunday, less than 24 hours after he tried to rally his people in a televised address in which he pledged not to give up the 'achievements' of the 20 years since the U.S. toppled the Taliban." (Also linked yesterday.)

Just Kidding! Patrick Tucker of Defense One: "... Donald Trump's top national security officials never intended to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, according to new statements by Chris Miller, Trump's last acting defense secretary. Miller said the president's public promise to finish withdrawing U.S. forces by May 1, as negotiated with the Taliban, was actually a 'play' that masked the Trump administration's true intentions: to convince Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to quit or accept a bitter power-sharing agreement with the Taliban, and to keep some U.S. troops in Afghanistan for counterrorism missions.... The new [Trump-engineered Afghan] government would then permit U.S. forces to remain in country to support the Afghan military and fight terrorist elements. That plan never happened, in part because Trump lost his reelection bid.... And at least one other former senior Trump administration official questioned Miller's retelling. But in revealing it, Miller challenged recent assertions that Trump is to blame for setting up this week's chaotic scenes unfolding across Kabul."

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it is banning a common pesticide, widely used since 1965 on fruits and vegetables, from use on food crops because it has been linked to neurological damage in children. The Environmental Protection Agency said this week it would publish a regulation to block the use of chlorpyrifos on food. One of the most widely used pesticides, chlorpyrifos is commonly applied to corn, soybeans, apples, broccoli, asparagus and other produce. The new rule, which will take effect in six months, follows an order in April by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that directed the E.P.A. to halt the agricultural use of the chemical unless it could demonstrate its safety.... The Obama administration began the process of revoking all uses of the pesticide in 2015 but, in 2020, the Trump administration ignored the recommendations of E.P.A. scientists and kept chlorpyrifos on the market. That set off a wave of legal challenges. Those challenges concluded with the court order in April...."

Vance Charges Friend of Jared. Jonah Bromwich & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Seven months after being pardoned by ... Donald J. Trump, a onetime editor of The New York Observer faces new charges of unlawfully spying on his former wife by secretly gaining access to her computer. The editor, Ken Kurson, a close friend of Mr. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was charged in state criminal court in Manhattan on Wednesday with eavesdropping and computer trespass, both felonies. Prosecutors accuse Mr. Kurson of using spyware to breach his wife's computer in 2015 as the couple's marriage fell apart. Each crime is punishable by up to four years in prison. 'We will not accept presidential pardons as get-out-of-jail-free cards for the well-connected in New York,' the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said in a statement announcing the charges." The AP's report is here.

Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the permits for a controversial oil project planned for Alaska's North Slope, faulting the way the federal government had assessed its environmental impact, including how it might harm polar bears. ConocoPhillips's Willow project had been backed by both the Trump and Bide administrations, despite a host of concerns environmentalists and others raised about how the large operation might impact wildlife and the Indigenous communities. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason -- an Obama appointee -- wrote in her ruling that the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service incorrectly approved the project because it failed to adequately analyze its climate impact and other possible development plans, and didn't specify how polar bears would be protected." Politico's story is here.

Jan Hoffman of the New York Times: "Deep into the third hour of testimony in federal bankruptcy court by Dr. Richard Sackler, a former president and co-chairman of the board of directors of Purdue Pharma," Sackler testified that he, his family & Purdue Pharmacy had no responsibility for the opioid crisis in the U.S. During testimony, Sackler "was evasive and defiant."

Marie's Sports Report. Cindy Boren of the Washington Post: "Jack Morris, the Detroit Tigers Hall of Fame pitcher-turned-TV analyst for Tigers games, was suspended indefinitely Wednesday by Bally Sports Detroit after using an accent often used to mock Asian people as Shohei Ohtani came to bat in [the sixth inning of] Tuesday night's game.... In the ninth inning, Morris said..., '... it's been brought to my attention, and I sincerely apologize if I offended anybody, especially anybody in the Asian community for what I said....' Reaction to Morris's remark was swift Tuesday night.... ESPN's Joon Lee tweeted, 'It's impossible for Jack Morris to play something like this off as "sorry if you were offended" when there's not any purpose in doing this accent other than to make a caricature of AAPI people.'"~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm not proud of the fact that in 1953, after watching a Saturday morning kids' movie program that included a B-movie about Pacific Theater WWII battles, we neighborhood kids ran around playing "Japs & G.I.s." But -- unlike Morris -- I'm not still living in 1953.

When Stars Collide -- on the Vineyard. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: Larry David & Alan Dershowitz got into a disagreement "on the porch of the Chilmark General Store [on Martha's Vineyard], according to a 'spy' for the New York Post. During the exchange, Dershowitz is reported to have said, 'We can still talk, Larry.' 'No,' said David. 'No. We really can't. I saw you. I saw you with your arm around [Trump's former Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo! It's disgusting!' Dershowitz told David that Pompeo was a student of his at Harvard Law School. 'I can't greet my former students?'... Dershowitz confirmed the encounter to the Post. He said he had been friends with David until he entered the Trump orbit." If only Larry were as brilliant & well-informed as Alan is! -- "'Larry is a knee-jerk radical,' Dershowitz told the Post, 'He takes his politics from Hollywood. He doesn't read a lot. He doesn't think a lot.'"

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "Some schools in the Sun Belt are defying Republican governors by finding ways to mandate masks as cases in the region surge, while Democrats including President Biden lean into vaccination requirements for public institutions. In Texas, a school system has made masks a part of its dress code for the academic year, hoping to exploit a possible loophole in a statewide ban by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who currently has covid-19, on face coverings. And in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has ordered schools not to require masks, Miami-Dade County's school board defied the governor on Wednesday by voting to enact a mask mandate when classes resume next week. In Washington state -- in a sweeping mandate that is one of the strictest for U.S. educators -- all public, private and charter school employees will need to be vaccinated before Oct. 18 as a condition of employment, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) announced Wednesday."

Sharon LaFraniere, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration moved on multiple fronts on Wednesday to fight back against the surging Delta variant, strongly recommending booster shots for most vaccinated American adults and using federal leverage to force nursing homes to vaccinate their staffs. In remarks from the East Room of the White House, President Biden also directed his education secretary to 'use all of his authority, and legal action if appropriate,' to deter states from banning universal masking in classrooms. That move is destined to escalate a fight with some Republican governors who are blocking local school districts from requiring masks to protect against the virus.... Wednesday..., [Biden] said his administration would make employee vaccination a condition for nursing homes to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding.... The shifts in strategy reflect the administration's growing concern that the highly contagious Delta variant is erasing its hard-fought progress against the pandemic and thrusting the nation back to the more precarious point it was at earlier in the year." ~~~

~~~ Biden, Cardona Signal Mask Bans Violate Civil Rights Laws. Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "President Joe Biden is directing the Education Department to 'use all available tools' to combat Republican governors whose state policies prohibit Covid-19 mitigation strategies like masking in the classroom. Biden, in a memo sent Wednesday to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, said the Education Department must take action to ensure governors and other officials are allowing a safe return to in-person learning and 'not standing in the way of local leaders making such preparations.... Cardona, in an interview with The New York Times, signaled that he could use the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights to prevent states from banning mask wearing in schools. The department could launch civil rights investigations for school districts if their policies impede students' access to education." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mike Stobbe & Matthew Perrone of the AP: "U.S. health officials Wednesday announced plans to offer COVID-19 booster shots to all Americans to shore up their protection amid the surging delta variant and signs that the vaccines' effectiveness is falling. The plan, as outlined by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other top authorities, calls for an extra dose eight months after people get their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The doses could begin the week of Sept. 20. 'Our plan is to protect the American people, to stay ahead of this virus,' CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at the White House. People who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will also probably need extra shots, health officials said. But they said they are waiting for more data." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Yasmeen Abutaleb & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "When Pfizer representatives met with senior U.S. government health officials on July 12, they laid out why they thought booster shots would soon be necessary in the United States.... But officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disagreed, saying their own data showed something quite different.... Other senior health officials in the meeting were stunned. Why hadn't the CDC looped other government officials on the data? Could the agency share it -- at least with the Food and Drug Administration, which was responsible for deciding whether booster shots were necessary? But CDC officials demurred, saying they planned to publish it soon. That episode, say senior administration officials and outside experts, illustrates the growing frustration with the CDC's slow and siloed approach to sharing data, which prevented officials across the government from getting real-time information about how the delta variant was bearing down on the United States...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is another story from the Bureaucracy Sucks Department. Sometimes the suckiness is just an inconvenience, an annoyance, or a source for minor unfairness. But today, we're seeing two egregious examples -- slow-walking visas for our Afghan friends and hoarding vital health data -- where Bureacracy Kills. (Meanwhile, I learned today that the IRS, which has been happy to accept my tax payments, doesn't know who I am and insists I "verify my identity," a process which apparently takes weeks. [What's a Social Security number for anyway?] This falls along the inconvenience/annoyance spectrum and is something I just don't get.)

Alabama. Dr. Valentine Is Tired of Trying to Reason with You People. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "In Alabama, where the nation's lowest vaccination rate has helped push the state closer to a record number of hospitalizations, a physician has sent a clear message to his patients: Don't come in for medical treatment if you are unvaccinated. Jason Valentine, a physician at Diagnostic and Medical Clinic Infirmary Health in Mobile, Ala., posted a photo on Facebook this week of him pointing to a sign taped to a door informing patients of his new policy coming Oct. 1. 'Dr. Valentine will no longer see patients that are not vaccinated against covid-19,' the sign reads. Valentine wrote in the post, which has since been made private but was captured in online images, that there were 'no conspiracy theories, no excuses' stopping anyone from being vaccinated, AL.com reported." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Texas. Teach Your Children Well. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: At recent public school events in Austin, Texas, the school district's superintendent said "Some parents physically and verbally assaulted teachers because of masks. One parent ripped a teacher's mask off her face.... Others yelled at another teacher to remove her mask because they claimed it made it difficult to understand what she was saying."

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a Texas law banning the most common form of second-trimester abortion, ruling that a lower court had erred in finding that the law imposed 'an undue burden on a large fraction of women.' At issue is a Texas law that was passed in 2017 but has not yet been in effect because of legal battles. The law, known as Senate Bill 8, prohibits a dilation-and-evacuation abortion method and requires doctors to use alternative abortion methods, according to Wednesday's decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.... The lower court 'committed numerous, reversible legal and factual errors,' according to the decision on Wednesday."

News Lede

Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Henri is expected to strengthen into a hurricane over the Atlantic, but its exact path and strength when it draws closer to New England are still uncertain. Residents of the Northeast U.S., especially New England and Long Island, should monitor Henri's progress closely since it might bring wind, rain and storm surge impacts to parts of the region late weekend into early next week. Hurricane and/or tropical storm watches could be required for these areas by Friday."

The Commentariat -- August 18, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Biden, Cardona Signal Mask Bans Violate Civil Rights Laws. Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "President Joe Biden is directing the Education Department to 'use all available tools' to combat Republican governors whose state policies prohibit Covid-19 mitigation strategies like masking in the classroom. Biden, in a memo sent Wednesday to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, said the Education Department must take action to ensure governors and other officials are allowing a safe return to in-person learning and 'not standing in the way of local leaders making such preparations.... Cardona, in an interview with The New York Times, signaled that he could use the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights to prevent states from banning mask wearing in schools. The department could launch civil rights investigations for school districts if their policies impede students' access to education."

Mike Stobbe & Matthew Perrone of the AP: "U.S. health officials Wednesday announced plans to offer COVID-19 booster shots to all Americans to shore up their protection amid the surging delta variant and signs that the vaccines' effectiveness is falling. The plan, as outlined by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other top authorities, calls for an extra dose eight months after people get their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The doses could begin the week of Sept. 20. 'Our plan is to protect the American people, to stay ahead of this virus,' CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at the White House. People who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will also probably need extra shots, health officials said. But they said they are waiting for more data."

Yuliya Talmazan & Mushtaq Yusufzai of NBC News: "Images of the Taliban cracking down on a protest and bloodied women and children beaten by fighters are contradicting the more moderate image the militant group has been trying to project as it tries to consolidate power in Afghanistan. Less than 24 hours after the Taliban spokesperson delivered security guarantees during a press conference in Kabul, the militants on Wednesday tried to stop locals from installing Afghanistan's national black, red and green flag in the eastern city of Jalalabad, according to local resident Anwar Khan. A former police official told Reuters four people had been killed in the protest and 13 injured. Afghanistan's Pajhwok news agency shared video of what it said was the incident, showing crowds running as gunfire was heard. NBC News was not able to verify the footage." MB: The idea that Taliban leadership has control over its far-flung soldiers is rather fanciful.

Henry Austin of NBC News: "Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has been 'welcomed' into the United Arab Emirates on 'humanitarian grounds,' the country's foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday. Ghani fled Afghanistan as the Taliban approached Kabul, the capital, on Sunday, less than 24 hours after he tried to rally his people in a televised address in which he pledged not to give up the 'achievements' of the 20 years since the U.S. toppled the Taliban."

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The New York Times' live updates of developments in Afghanistan Wednesday are here. The featured item at 5 am ET is about evacuations from Afghanistan. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Afghanistan updates for Wednesday are here: "The United States and other countries operated military evacuation flights from Afghanistan throughout Tuesday, though not all seeking to leave the country were able to reach Kabul airport. The Taliban erected checkpoints throughout the capital and near the airport's entrance, beating some Afghans who attempted to cross and intimidating others from leaving.... President Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the Taliban have agreed to allow 'safe passage' from Afghanistan for civilians struggling to join a U.S.-directed airlift from the capital, although a timetable for completing the evacuation has yet to be worked out with the country's new rulers. Sullivan said the United States is addressing reports of militants intimidating fleeing Afghans with the Islamist group.... Washington has moved some 3,200 people out so far, with an additional 2,000 Afghans relocated to the United States as special immigrants. About 11,000 people in Afghanistan have identified themselves as American, while more than 80,000 Afghans may need to be evacuated."

Ahmad Seir, et al., of the AP: "The Taliban violently broke up a protest in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, quashing a rare public show of dissent.... Dozens of people gathered in the eastern city of Jalalabad to raise the national flag a day before Afghanistan's Independence Day, which commemorates the end of British rule in 1919. They lowered the Taliban flag -- a white banner with an Islamic inscription -- that the militants have raised in the areas they captured. Video footage later showed the Taliban firing into the air and attacking people with batons to disperse the crowd. Babrak Amirzada, a reporter for a local news agency, said he and a TV cameraman from another agency were beaten by the Taliban as they tried to cover the unrest."

Mujib Mashal & Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "For the first time since retaking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban's leaders on Tuesday sketched out what their control of the country could look like, promising peace at home and urging the world to look past their history of violence and repression. 'We don't want Afghanistan to be a battlefield anymore -- from today onward, war is over,' said Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's longtime chief spokesman, in a news conference in Kabul, the capital. Mr. Mujahid, a high-ranking leader, said the Taliban had declared a blanket amnesty, vowing no reprisals against former enemies. And the group has in some places appealed to civil servants -- including women -- to continue to go to work.... But much of the world is wary of their reassurances.... Many Afghans, too, remain utterly unconvinced by the new face presented by the Taliban, and its promises of political pluralism and women's and minority rights...." ~~~

"While American troops controlled a large part of the airport, the Taliban took control of the approaches to it, and at times beat people with rifle butts and clubs to force back the crowds trying to get in. It was not always clear whether they were attempting to prevent people from reaching the airport, or simply prevent another lethal crush. The U.S. Embassy released a statement to Americans who want to leave that they should get to the airport, but added that the American government 'cannot guarantee your security' on the way there -- a vivid illustration of the confusion on the ground.... In the chaos at the airport, where U.S. troops shot and killed at least two people on Monday and others fell to their deaths trying to cling to a U.S. military transport as it took off, there were reports of several more deaths on Tuesday." A related AP story is here.

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration on Sunday froze Afghan government reserves held in U.S. bank accounts, blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in U.S. institutions, according to two people.... The decision was made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and officials in Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the people said. The State Department was also involved in discussions over the weekend, with officials in the White House monitoring the developments. An administration official said in a statement, 'Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Here's a transcript of President Biden's speech on Afghanistan, as delivered Monday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Video of the speech is embedded in yesterday's Commentariat.

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Three Democrat-led Senate committees are vowing to investigate the Biden administration's bungled withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, as officials scramble to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies. Statements from the leaders of the Senate's Intelligence, Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees reflect the widespread bipartisan anger over what is widely perceived as a chaotic and poorly planned exit from America's longest war." (BTW, do you think Republicans would have vowed to investigate the Former Guy if this were his fiasco?)

Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "Classified assessments by American spy agencies over the summer painted an increasingly grim picture of the prospect of a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and warned of the rapid collapse of the Afghan military, even as President Biden and his advisers said publicly that was unlikely to happen as quickly, according to current and former American government officials. By July, many intelligence reports grew more pessimistic, questioning whether any Afghan security forces would muster serious resistance and whether the government could hold on in Kabul, the capital. President Biden said on July 8 that the Afghan government was unlikely to fall and that there would be no chaotic evacuations of Americans similar to the end of the Vietnam War. The drumbeat of warnings over the summer raise questions about why Biden administration officials, and military planners in Afghanistan, seemed ill-prepared to deal with the Taliban's final push into Kabul, including a failure to ensure security at the main airport and rushing thousands more troops back to the country to protect the United States' final exit." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alexander Ward of Politico: "... the [Biden] administration wasted precious time and failed to prepare to evacuate thousands in danger as the Taliban plotted their comeback.... [Some observers] aren't convinced President Biden and his team prioritized the special visa issue, saying they've long expressed political concerns that delayed their response. They 'viewed it as the worst-case political outcome for them to bring Afghans to the U.S.,' fearing the domestic repercussions if one commits a terrorist act...." MB: The article details numerous screw-ups & foot-dragging exercises. I've been listening for the past two or three days to on-air stories about how difficult/impossible it is for Afghans to get SIVs (special immigration visas) and how it can take months or years -- and that was before the Taliban took control. Joe Biden had better sign an executive order compelling every bureaucrat in every applicable federal office to get off their asses and get vulnerable Afghans to safety. Move them now; check them out later. ~~~

~~~ Claire Hansen of US News: "A bipartisan group of [46] senators is urging the Biden administration to create a specific humanitarian parole category for certain Afghan women, including leaders, journalists, activists, security forces and others who are at risk in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal. Humanitarian parole is used to bring someone who is not otherwise eligible to enter the country, or who does not have a visa, into the U.S. temporarily because of an emergency or urgent humanitarian reason. Three Republican senators -- Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma -- joined Democratic colleagues in signing the letter."

Hans Nichols of Axios: "Senior national security officials presiding over a historic foreign policy collapse are privately expressing deep frustrations about the thin Afghanistan withdrawal plans left behind by Donald Trump.... Many experienced operatives in both parties are aghast that President Biden and his team didn't ready better preparations over nearly seven months since taking office. But two Biden officials who spoke with Axios on Monday on condition of anonymity bristled at the criticism.... 'There was no plan to evacuate our diplomats to the airport,' a senior national security official told Axios about the preparations they inherited from the previous administration.... 'When we got in, on Jan. 20, we saw that the cupboard was bare,' the official said, echoing a complaint Team Biden also made about Trump's vaccine distribution plan." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I read the Trump plan & found it quite comprehensive: "Leave on a jet plane." For a $50 contribution to the Reinstate Trump PAC, you could get it with a Mary Travers CD.

Esper Blames Trump. Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday that he was concerned that ... Donald Trump 'undermined' the US' 2020 agreement with the Taliban by pushing for US forces to leave Afghanistan without the Taliban meeting the conditions of the deal..... '... in the fall [of 2020] when he was calling for a return of US forces by Christmas, I objected and formally wrote a letter to him, a memo based on recommendations from the military chain of command and my senior civilian leadership that we not go further -- that we not reduce below 4,500 troops unless and until conditions were met by the Taliban.... Otherwise,' Esper continued, 'we would see a number of things play out, which are unfolding right now in many ways.' Trump fired Esper in November 2020 in the wake of the presidential election.... Following the [2020] agreement, violence in Afghanistan grew to its highest levels in two decades and the Taliban increased their control of wider swaths of the country. By June of this year, the Taliban contested or controlled an estimated 50% to 70% of Afghan territory outside of urban centers, according to a United Nations Security Council report."

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump gushed about the prospect of a Taliban-led Afghanistan last year, predicting that once they took over the country, they would devote themselves to killing terrorists.... Last February, months after canceling a planned meeting with the Taliban that would have placed the group's leaders inside the White House on September 11th, Trump gloried in the idea of a Taliban-led Afgh[a]nistan that would become a bane to terrorists.... And as recently as late June of this year, Trump boasted that the deal he'd made for the withdrawal made it impossible [for President] Biden to reverse course -- and explicitly predicted the collapse of the Afghan government as soon as the U.S. departed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Luis Martinez of ABC News: "A U.S. official has confirmed that human remains were found inside the wheel well of a C-17 military plane that had been swarmed by hundreds of people on the tarmac as it took off at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The discovery was made upon landing at al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Monday. A dramatic video taken earlier Monday showed some people clinging to the plane as it taxied down the runway in Kabul." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Meet Your Trump Backer. Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "Hours before the special Senate runoff in Georgia was called for the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock (D) in the early hours on Jan. 6, Eduard Florea [-- a Proud Boys supporter --] went on the conservative social media platform Parler and wrote: 'Warnock is going to have a hard time casting votes for communist policies when he's swinging with the ... fish.' In a later post, he wrote in reference to Warnock: 'Dead men can't pass [expletive] laws.'... In addition to making threatening comments about Warnock on Jan. 6, Florea had also written on Parler about going to Washington to incite violence.... On Jan. 12, federal agents and police ... discovered more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, plus hatchets, swords and 75 military-style combat knives [in Florea's Queens basement apartment].... Florea surrendered and was taken into custody. Now, Florea is facing up to 15 years in prison for making those threats, prosecutors announced Monday. The 41-year-old from Queens pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting threats to injure and one count of possessing ammunition after having been convicted of a felony." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here: "There are more intensive care patients in Alabama than there are ICU beds in the state to treat them.... Hospitals in the South have for weeks been overrun by covid-19 patients as cases surged across the Sun Belt. But now, health-care workers across the country are also struggling to manage the waves of cases brought on by the delta variant.

An Unusual Celebrity Endorsement. Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is 'an act of love,' Pope Francis says in a public service ad that will start circulating online and on television on Wednesday. Working with the Ad Council, a nonprofit group, in its first campaign to extend beyond the United States, the pope encourages people around the world to get inoculated. The ad shows the pope, speaking in Spanish with English subtitles, with church officials from the United States, Mexico, Brazil and other countries describing vaccination as a moral responsibility. 'Thanks to God's grace and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from Covid-19,' the pope says in the ad. 'They bring hope to end the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we collaborate with one another.'"

Texas. However Could This Have Happened? Dan Levin of the New York Times: "Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, though he has no symptoms, the governor's office announced.... Mr. Abbott, who is fully vaccinated, will now be isolated in the Governor's Mansion while receiving monoclonal antibody treatment, which can help Covid-19 patients who are at risk of getting very sick.... Mr. Abbott, 63, has faced withering criticism as coronavirus cases have increased sharply in Texas and available intensive-care beds have dwindled in Austin and other cities. But he maintained his ban on mask mandates, which prohibits local officials from imposing restrictions in their communities." This is an item from the NYT's live updates Tuesday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Weber of the AP: "The positive test comes a day after Abbott tweeted a picture of himself not wearing a mask while speaking indoors near Dallas to a group of GOP supporters, most of whom were unmasked.... The governor had been getting tested daily...." MB: So instead of buying a few $1 masks, Abbott gets a daily test and now special treatments -- not available to most of us -- which according to CNN cost $1,500 each. Seems reasonable. (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. A Court Win for Abbott; a Loss for Democracy. Joshua Fechter of the Texas Tribune: "Texas House Democrats who refuse to show up to the state Capitol in their bid to prevent Republican lawmakers from passing a voting restrictions bill can be arrested and brought to the lower chamber, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The all-Republican court sided with Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan -- and ordered a Travis County district judge to revoke his temporary restraining order blocking the civil arrest of Democratic lawmakers whose absences have denied the chamber the number of present members needed to move any legislation."

Wisconsin. Mark Guarino of the Washington Post: "The family of Anthony Huber, who was fatally shot by Kyle Rittenhouse during riots in Kenosha, Wis., last summer, filed suit in Milwaukee on Tuesday, alleging that the city of Kenosha and its police and county sheriff's departments openly conspired with White militia members, which gave them 'license -- to wreak havoc and inflict injury.' In the first major federal lawsuit against the city, police and county resulting from the riots in August last year, attorneys say that Rittenhouse and other gunmen were given preferential treatment because of their race." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Haiti. Anatoly Kurmanaev & Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "The death and injury tolls leapt by many hundreds on Tuesday from the weekend earthquake in Haiti's southern peninsula, as survivors soaked from Tropical Storm Grace struggled to keep safe in makeshift shelters. Haiti's National Emergency Operations Center said that as of Tuesday evening the number of dead totaled at least 1,941, with 9,900 injured, compared with the official tallies of about 1,400 dead and 7,000 injured reported 24 hours earlier."