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All of New Orleans without power after Hurricane Ida leaves ‘catastrophic transmission damage’ — A slow-moving Hurricane Ida has left all of Orleans Parish customers without power due to “catastrophic transmission damage,” according to Entergy New Orleans.
Discussion:
Politico, CBS News, HotAir, Gizmodo, Twitchy, UPI, WWL-TV, New York Times, The Atlantic, The Gateway Pundit, Informed Comment, New York Post, Insider, The Hill, Mediaite, Townhall and The Daily Beast
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Ida weakens as rescues begin and damage checked in Louisiana — NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Ida became a tropical storm as its top winds slowed over Mississippi on Monday, while across southeast Louisiana residents waited for daylight to be rescued from floodwaters and see how much damage …
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The Hill, FEMA.gov, Reuters, Crooks and Liars, UPI, CBS News, Fox News, Associated Press and WAVY-TV

New Orleans lost power in Hurricane Ida after tower collapsed in river; fix could take days, longer — Mayor Cantrell, NOPD Chief Ferguson urge residents to continue to shelter in place — A massive failure of the transmission system that brings electricity to New Orleans and the east bank …
John Bel Edwards / Office of Governor John Bel Edwards:
Pres. Biden Approves Gov. Edwards' Request for Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Ida
Pres. Biden Approves Gov. Edwards' Request for Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Ida
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Examiner, Washington Post and Common Dreams
Washington Post:
Live updates: Hurricane Ida charges inland with destructive winds and torrential rain
Live updates: Hurricane Ida charges inland with destructive winds and torrential rain
Discussion:
NBC News, TheBlaze, Common Dreams, CBS News, ABC News, NPR and Just The News

Family says 7 children were killed in Kabul drone strike; U.S. is investigating — After a day at work, Ezmari Ahmadi was just arriving at his home Sunday in Khwaja Burgha, a working-class neighborhood a few miles west of Kabul's airport, when calamity struck.
Discussion:
Insider
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Rockets fired at Kabul airport amid US withdrawal hit homes — KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Rocket fire apparently targeting Kabul's international airport struck a nearby neighborhood on Monday, the eve of the deadline for American troops to withdraw from the country's longest war after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Discussion:
HotAir, Washington Examiner, U.S. Central Command, UPI and U.S. Department of Defense

Afghanistan Live Updates: Children Killed in U.S. Drone Strike, Family Says — Family members said 10 people, including seven children, were killed by a U.S. drone strike on Sunday. On Monday, the U.S. military intercepted rockets aimed at the Kabul airport, as the withdrawal deadline loomed.
Discussion:
Washington Post and ABC News

Nine family members, including children, killed in US strike in Kabul targeting suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber, relative says — (CNN)Nine members of one family — including six children — were killed in a US drone strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighborhood of Kabul …
Discussion:
Washington Post, U.S. Central Command, CBS News, CNBC, The Daily Beast, NPR, BizPac Review, The Daily Caller, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, Townhall and WBBH-TV

U.S. Conducts Drone Strike in Kabul and Winds Down Airlift as Deadline Nears
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Raw Story, Associated Press, Metro.co.uk, Outside the Beltway and Agence France-Presse

Inside Politico's Billion-Dollar Drama — From “son of” to mogul in his own right: Robert Allbritton just became the unlikeliest winner of the new media sweepstakes. — I was sitting in a bar next to John Harris, a former national editor of The Washington Post.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, more at Mediagazer »

As Biden winds down Afghanistan, a refugee backlash looms at home — President Joe Biden has faced a torrent of criticism for abandoning Afghan partners as their country fell to the Taliban. Now, there is also a looming political controversy over the thousands of Afghans Biden will end up resettling over here.
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Michael Tomasky / New Republic:
Be Glad Donald Trump Isn't Running the Show in Afghanistan
Be Glad Donald Trump Isn't Running the Show in Afghanistan
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Salon, Fox News and The Dispatch

Biden Deserves Credit, Not Blame, for Afghanistan — America's longest war has been by any measure a costly failure, and the errors in managing the conflict deserve scrutiny in the years to come. But Joe Biden doesn't “own” the mayhem on the ground right now.
Discussion:
American Greatness, Ace of Spades HQ, The Guardian, Fox News, The American Spectator and Slate

Why California's recall election matters — True story. — I've had people come up to me to ask if I'm Larry Elder. — Yes, I have been mistaken for the far-right radio host. — Well, I guess we are Black men who appear on cable television and talk radio shows.
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Joe Garofoli / San Francisco Chronicle:
‘Who should I vote for in the recall?’ Democratic advisors say Faulconer
‘Who should I vote for in the recall?’ Democratic advisors say Faulconer
Discussion:
The American Conservative and NBC News

American University of Kabul students and alumni trying to flee were sent home. — Hundreds of students and alumni of American University of Kabul gathered at a safe house on Sunday and boarded buses in what was supposed to be a final attempt at evacuation on U.S. military flights, students and alumni said.
Discussion:
BizPac Review, Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Mediaite

EU Set to Recommend Halting Nonessential Travel From the U.S. — The European Union action is in response to the increase in U.S. coronavirus cases — The European Union is set to recommend halting nonessential travel from the U.S. because of Covid-19, diplomats said on Sunday.
Discussion:
New York Times and Mediaite

New polls suggest broad support for Democrats' voting rights bills — A majority of voters in seven states support elements of Democrats' voting legislation and passing such legislation without a filibuster-proof majority, according to a series of new state-level surveys.
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Adam Jentleson / New York Times:
When Will Biden Join the Fight for Voting Rights?
When Will Biden Join the Fight for Voting Rights?
Discussion:
Progressives Everywhere

Right on Cue, the President's Mistakes Are Our Fault Again — You can tell a Democrat is president, because we're starting to see pieces blaming “us” for his mistakes. In The Atlantic a couple of weeks ago, Tom Nichols wrote that “Afghanistan Is Your Fault.”
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Max Boot / Washington Post:
Who's to blame for the deaths of 13 service members in Kabul? We all are.
Who's to blame for the deaths of 13 service members in Kabul? We all are.
Discussion:
National Review, New York Post, Real Clear Politics and UPI

Pentagon prepared for ‘mass casualty’ attack at Kabul Airport hours before explosion — Just 24 hours before a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, senior military leaders gathered for the Pentagon's daily morning update on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

North Korea Appears to Have Restarted Yongbyon Nuclear Reactor — The reactor's apparent operations add to President Biden's foreign-policy challenges — North Korea appears to have resumed operation of its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon in a move that could enable the reclusive country …
Discussion:
NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, New York Times, Al Jazeera and Outside the Beltway

Scoop: Former Israel ambassador joins U.S. Iran team — Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro has joined the State Department's Iran team as a senior adviser, a senior State Department official tells Axios. — Why it matters: Israel is pressing the Biden administration to start discussing a …

FBI suffers another black eye, admits it hid payments to informant in white supremacist case — The revelations come at a sensitive time for the FBI and Director Christopher Wray, who has insisted widespread problems revealed about the bureau's conduct in the now-discredited Russia collusion case …
Discussion:
Instapundit

What Taliban rule will look like in the new old Afghanistan — With U.S. troops departing Afghanistan after 20 years, it's now time for the Taliban to decide how it intends to run the country — and for the U.S. to decide how to work with that government. — The big pictures …

Trapped in Afghanistan, Rescued by Volunteers: How a Handful of Americans Freed 5,000 Afghans — From a lounge at the Willard Hotel in Washington, a group of men and women mobilized a global network to conduct a two-week military-style rescue operation — Zach Van Meter, a private-equity investor …