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9:55 PM ET, August 17, 2021

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 Top Items: 
Mike Pence / Wall Street Journal:
Biden Broke Our Deal With the Taliban  —  It's a foreign-policy humiliation unlike anything our country has endured since the Iran hostage crisis.  —  'The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country [of Afghanistan] is highly unlikely," …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Intelligence Warned of Afghan Military Collapse, Despite Biden's Assurances  —  Even as the president was telling the public that Kabul was unlikely to fall, intelligence assessments painted a grimmer picture.  —  WASHINGTON — Classified assessments by American spy agencies over the summer painted …
Chris Kahn / Reuters:
Biden approval drops to lowest of 7-month presidency after Taliban takeover  —  President Joe Biden's approval rating dropped by 7 percentage points and hit its lowest level so far as the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed over the weekend in an upheaval that sent thousands of civilians …
Washington Post:
Taliban strikes conciliatory tone, consolidates power as de facto leader returns to country … At a wide-ranging news conference in Kabul on Tuesday, Taliban leaders in Afghanistan offered conciliatory messages, met with skepticism by experts, promising not to discriminate against women …
Jeff Stein / Washington Post:
Biden administration freezes billions of dollars in Afghan reserves, depriving Taliban of cash  —  The move comes as the White House has scrambled to redraw its Afghanistan policies  —  The Biden administration on Sunday froze Afghan government reserves held in U.S. bank accounts …
Dan Bilefsky / New York Times:
A Taliban official's TV interview with a female presenter is part of a broader campaign.  —  As Afghan women remained cloistered at home in Kabul, fearful for their lives and their futures, a starkly different image played out on Tuesday on Tolo News, an Afghan television station: a female presenter interviewing a Taliban official.
Discussion: The Daily Beast, euronews and Insider
Condoleezza Rice / Washington Post:
The Afghan people didn't choose the Taliban.  They fought and died alongside us.  —  Condoleezza Rice was secretary of state from 2005 to 2009 and national security adviser from 2001 to 2005.  She is director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.  —  It didn't have to happen this way.
Discussion: Raw Story and emptywheel
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
The Washington Post evacuates Afghan employees and family members from Taliban-held Kabul
Washington Post:
72 hours at Camp David: Inside Biden's lagging response to the fall of Afghanistan
Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Pentagon: We may have 10,000 Americans stuck in Kabul
Paul LeBlanc / CNN:
Ex-defense secretary: Trump's push to get US troops out of Afghanistan possibly ‘undermined’ deal with Taliban
Discussion: Salon and Slate
Associated Press:
Taliban vow to respect women, despite history of oppression
Hans Nichols / Axios:
Biden officials: Trump left bare cupboard on Afghanistan
Ben Kesling / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Military Veterans Rush to Help Afghan Interpreters Escape
Discussion: ABC News
Office of the Texas Governor:
Office Of The Governor Statement Concerning Governor Abbott  —  Office of the Governor Communications Director Mark Miner today issued a statement after Governor Greg Abbott tested positive for COVID-19:  —  “Governor Greg Abbott today tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
RELATED:
Patrick Svitek / The Texas Tribune:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tests positive for COVID-19  —  He spoke Monday night at a GOP event in Collin County, later tweeting photos of him addressing a maskless crowd.  Less than three hours before his diagnosis was announced Tuesday afternoon, he tweeted pictures of a meeting with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan.
Washington Post:
Florida officials find two school districts violated DeSantis's mask mandate restrictions … PLEASE NOTE  —  The Washington Post is providing this important information about the coronavirus for free.  For more free coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter …
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The latest GOP anti-mask lunacy is stirring a backlash.  New polling reveals it.  —  The other day, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis likened mask and other health mandates to “medical authoritarianism.”  The Republican added that we may be witnessing “the most significant threat to freedom in my lifetime …
Dartunorro Clark / NBC News:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tests positive for Covid after banning mask, vaccination mandates
Discussion: KXAN-TV, Raw Story and Gizmodo
Dan Levin / New York Times:
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Discussion: Vanity Fair
Edmund Lee / New York Times:
The owner of Politico is said to be seeking $1 billion in a deal with Axel Springer.  —  Politico, the Washington news site popular with Beltway power brokers, is seeking as much as $1 billion in a potential deal with the German publishing giant Axel Springer.
The Intercept:
The Taliban Have Seized U.S. Military Biometrics Devices … The Taliban have seized U.S. military biometrics devices that could aid in the identification of Afghans who assisted coalition forces, current and former military officials have told The Intercept.
Seth Barrett Tillman / THE NEW REFORM CLUB:
What I Learned About the United States After Ten Years in Ireland  —  This is an anniversary, of sorts, for me.  I have now lived in Ireland for ten years.  They were ten good years.  During that time, I made some friends and worked with colleagues, who later became friends, and befriended some students, who later befriended me.
Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Halted Dollar Shipments to Afghanistan to Keep Cash Out of Taliban's Hands  —  U.S. officials are also blocking Taliban from Afghan government accounts managed by the Fed and U.S. banks  —  WASHINGTON—The Biden administration last week canceled bulk shipments of dollars headed …
Rudy Takala / Mediaite:
Twitter Says Taliban Spokesman Will be Allowed to Remain if He Doesn't Get Too Violent  —  Twitter is refusing to join its peers in the social-media world in prohibiting the Taliban from using its platform.  —  Asked on Tuesday whether Twitter would join Facebook, TikTok and other tech companies …
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WinRed:
Will you do your part to help him?  —  Donated before using an account? … Your contribution will benefit Laxalt for Senate.  —  Republicans need just ONE SEAT to flip the Senate and Adam is the best candidate to do it.  Do NOT let the Democrats outraise us by making this donation recurring and help TAKE BACK the Senate today!
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YouTube:
Adam Laxalt: The Good Guys
Discussion: The Hill and Politico
NBC4 Washington:
DC Tunnel History Site Flagged Suspicious Activity Before Capitol Insurrection  —  The founder and administrator of an obscure website about underground infrastructure in Washington, D.C., saw a sudden and suspicious spike in traffic in the days before the U.S. Capitol insurrection.
Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story
Jim Langevin / Foreign Policy:
I'm a Democrat Who Opposed the Withdrawal.  This Catastrophe Is Why.  —  At minimum, Biden owed our allies in Afghanistan a plan.  —  During a hearing of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee about Afghanistan in May, I asked a senior Defense Department official if the U.S. military …
Georgia Slater / People.com:
CNN's Abby Phillip Welcomes First Baby, Daughter Naomi Angelina, with Husband Marcus Richardson  —  Abby Phillip shared her pregnancy news to The Cut back in March  —  This just in: Abby Phillip is officially a mom!  —  The CNN anchor and senior political correspondent, 32 …
Harper's:
Bad News  —  In the beginning, there were ABC, NBC, and CBS, and they were good.  Midcentury American man could come home after eight hours of work and turn on his television and know where he stood in relation to his wife, and his children, and his neighbors, and his town, and his country, and his world.
Paul P. Murphy / CNN:
FBI joins investigation into QAnon-affiliated leak of voting machine logins in Colorado  —  (CNN)The FBI Denver field office has joined a Colorado district attorney's investigation into the County Clerk's office and how voting machine logins from the county wound up in a QAnon-affiliated video, an FBI spokeswoman told CNN.
Reuters:
UNICEF ‘quite optimistic’ after Taliban comments on girls' education, official says  —  The chief of field operations of the U.N. children's agency expressed cautious optimism about working with Taliban officials following their seizure of power in Afghanistan, citing their early expressions of support for girls' education.
Jon Sopel / BBC:
Three ways this Afghanistan crisis really hurts Biden  —  There's a quote in To Kill A Mockingbird where Jem is told by Miss Maudie that “things are never as bad as they seem.”  For Joe Biden, right now, things do look pretty dark.  —  But if I'm digging into my quotations book …
Discussion: Instapundit
Bill Glauber / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
And now there are 11: Steven Olikara officially enters crowded Democratic primary for U.S. Senate  —  Next year's Democratic race for U.S. Senate just got a bit more crowded.  —  Steven Olikara, a Brookfield native and former chief executive of the nonprofit Millennial Action Project …
Discussion: The Hill
Tim Kelly / Reuters:
As Taliban takes over, some swap iconic AK-47s for made-in-America rifles  —  The Russian Kalashnikov AK-47 and its derivatives have long been the assault rifle of choice for militant groups because of their rugged design, but some Taliban fighters are trading them in for captured U.S. guns as Afghanistan's government collapses.
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Molly Beck / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Sen. Andre Jacque of De Pere hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19  —  MADISON - One of the Legislature's most active lawmakers who has opposed mask and vaccine mandates has received hospital care after testing positive for COVID-19.  —  Sen. Andre Jacque, a Republican from De Pere …
 
 
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Nora Sackett / Office of the Governor:
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Joe Cunningham / RedState:
The Worst Part? The Democrats Can't Use the 25th Amendment
Discussion: HotAir and The Western Journal
 Earlier Items: 
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Another GOP voter caught casting a ballot for a dead relative
Discussion: Raw Story
Amara Omeokwe / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Retail Sales Fell 1.1% in July as Spending Fell Across Categories
Discussion: Kevin Drum
Jamie Killin / Insider:
I'm a landlord with 24 properties. We're suffering during Biden's eviction ban, too, and no one is helping.
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The House Suicide Squad's Nonsensical Reason to Kill Biden's Agenda Gottheimer claims the bridges can't wait a few weeks.
Discussion: Politico
New York Times:
American Hospitals Buckle Under Delta, With I.C.U.s Filling Up
Discussion: The Atlantic
Politico:
Pelosi loses patience with centrists on infrastructure deal