NIH director Dr. Francis Collins on Sunday took aim at mask mandate bans in schools as the Delta variant prompts upticks in COVID-19 cases throughout the country. Continue reading “NIH Director Condemns ‘Politics And Polarization’ Of School Mask Mandate Bans”
After Sunday It’s Even More Clear Biden Was Right
Americans, or at least the commentating classes, are watching aghast as events unfold in Afghanistan. Some are second-guessing the wisdom of withdrawal – after all, how hard is it to maintain a few thousand soldiers there permanently? Others are taking the more comfortable position of saying yes, we had to leave but this just wasn’t the right way. I must be the only person in America who is having exactly the opposite reaction. The more I see the more I’m convinced this was the right decision – both what I see on the ground in Afghanistan and perhaps even more the reaction here in the United States.
Continue reading “After Sunday It’s Even More Clear Biden Was Right”
FL School Board Chair Defends Mask Mandates Amid Governor’s ‘Horrible’ Threats
Dr. Rosalind Osgood, Broward County School Board chair, on Sunday outlined the district’s decision to impose a mask mandate despite Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) ban on school mask mandates. Continue reading “FL School Board Chair Defends Mask Mandates Amid Governor’s ‘Horrible’ Threats”
I Think This is Right
I think this is right. From TPM Reader JB …
Just a note here about the ongoing US bugout from Afghanistan, that I suspect we’ll hear more about in the months to come.
President Biden has a long memory; the events of 2009-10, when then-President Obama was jammed by the military leadership into what proved to be an aimless, futile surge of US forces into Afghanistan, have to be a major factor in his thinking. A more deliberate, better planned withdrawal would have been preferable to what we are seeing now in many respects — notably, to get more of America’s Afghan friends out of the country.
Continue reading “I Think This is Right”
Not An Intelligence Failure
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) has a statement out that is at least semi-critical of the Biden administration’s handling of Afghanistan. I’ll print the whole thing below. But it’s this statement that caught my eye: “We also need to determine what intelligence failures led to underestimating the ease and speed of the Taliban’s advancement and work to ensure that we prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a safe haven for terrorists.”
Texas AG Takes School Mask Mandate Fight To Court After Governor’s Failed Efforts
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Friday night said that the state Supreme Court will decide on mask mandates that schools have implemented, following Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) unsuccessful efforts to overturn the public health measures. Continue reading “Texas AG Takes School Mask Mandate Fight To Court After Governor’s Failed Efforts”
Biden Lends Support To School Leaders Who Bucked Statewide Mask Mandate Bans
President Biden doubled down on his gratitude for local leaders who defied bans on school mask mandates issued by Republican governors during calls to school superintendents on Friday night. Continue reading “Biden Lends Support To School Leaders Who Bucked Statewide Mask Mandate Bans”
Vindication and the Fall of Kabul
Yesterday I wrote this: “In the coming days or weeks we’re likely to see a situation in which the government only controls Kabul. If you’re in the Afghan army how hard are you going to fight in that final battle? Why fight? The question answers itself.”
As we can see this morning, not days or weeks but hours. Overnight in the United States the army and government of Afghanistan melted away and remaining authorities are in the process of turning over power to a transitional Taliban government. It’s over.
People are lining up to say that this is all on Joe Biden, that he “lost” Afghanistan, that he mismanaged or failed to manage the US withdrawal, that this is “on him.” In the calculus of US military-political culture that’s likely right. But I see it quite differently. This seems to me like the ultimate vindication of his decision.
A Few Thoughts on Afghanistan
The government of Afghanistan, created under US auspices and propped up by the US military for almost two decades, appears to be collapsing under a rapid military onslaught by the Taliban. This has been triggered by but I think by no means caused by President Biden’s decision to withdraw all US military forces from the country.
Let me share a few thoughts about this in no particular order.
Continue reading “A Few Thoughts on Afghanistan”
The Stopwatch On Redistricting Has Started. The Longer It Takes To Pass Reforms, The Messier It’ll Be
The 2020 Census data dropped on Thursday, the starting gun of the redistricting process.