Reflections on and memories of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 are in the center column.

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

By the Editors

Twenty years ago, 19 terrorists of the organization al-Qaeda, including those secretly trained to operate passenger jetliners highjacked four U.S. airliners and crashed two into the World Trade Center towers and another into the west side of the Pentagon. Passengers stormed the cockpit of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing it into the ground in Shanksville, Pennsylvania instead of the terrorists’ intended target, believed to be either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. 

A total of 2,753 people from 115 countries were killed in the attacks, including 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York Police Department officers and 37 Port Authority police officers. U.S. troops killed in Operation Enduring Freedom, the name for President George W. Bush’s war on international terrorism, stands at 2,343. The U.S. began bombing Afghanistan 26 days after the 9/11 attacks (statistics by New York magazine). 

New York further notes that 12,962 civil rights complaints were made nationally to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, between 2002 and 2008. But there also was an initial outpouring of sympathy worldwide for the United States, and both its victims and survivors of the terrorist attacks, at least until the Bush 43 administration’s war on terrorism extended to invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan, renewing the pre-attack divide. 

For Saturday’s anniversary of the attacks, The Hustings asked staff editors and contributors to reflect on the awful events of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Their remarks are in the center column below. To respond with your own comments and reflections, please email editors@thehustings.news.

•••

Fighter-Jets Hitting the Sound Barrier

I was a reporter in D.C. and was due on Capitol Hill for a hearing. I never made it there. About 30 minutes after the Pentagon attack, I heard what seemed to be a loud explosion that immediately put me on edge. I later learned it came from fighter jets hitting the sound barrier and scrambling into place. My wife was working downtown a half-mile from the Capitol and it took a while to connect as cell service was limited, but all turned out O.K. for us.

It was a harrowing day, and it ushered in a long period where we monitored the latest color-coded terrorism alerts and made contingency plans in case of an emergency. I’ve lived in the Washington area for decades and it was a period unlike I’d ever seen.

--Charles Dervarics

•••

Fearful of Our Response

In the aftermath, we, as country, weren’t at our best. Sure, some people gave blood for a few days and the first responders did an impeccable job and deserve everything we can give them still, but what I remember from that time is being more fearful of our response as a nation (at the time, we hadn’t made a decision about who we would retaliate against – I knew it would be a Middle Eastern nation), as well as the blind rage of my usually sensible coworkers and random people on my daily commute.

Everyone wanted retribution. I failed to see the point of retribution because those who were responsible were dead and incinerated. They were out of our reach. Everything outside of that was speculation and I still believe in the rule of law and due process – even for nations. You don’t get to bomb or invade over mere speculation. We went into Afghanistan because bin Laden was supposed to be there, we found him in Pakistan. So are we O.K. with that? I’m not.

I wasn’t angry at the time. I was terrified at what the country was going to become when it operates from a place of vengeance and fear.

--Nic Woods

•••

Airplanes

My mom never called me at work. Perhaps it was because my dad had worked in a factory all of his life and getting him to a phone during working hours was a challenge. Even though she knew I was in an office with just three other people, even though she knew that I was the “boss,” even though she knew I had a phone on my desk, she didn’t call.

Until the morning of 9/11.

She knew I flew a lot for my job and she wanted to make sure that I was in town. She was afraid I was on one of those planes.

Sons and daughters were lost on that day.

My parents flew rarely during their lives. My mom didn’t like it. My dad wished they’d gone more.

In early October, on one of those fall days that blesses Detroit with wonderful weather, my dad and I stood on my patio. He looked to the sky and saw one of the few planes that was making its turn for a final approach into Metro Airport.

He shook his head. Sadly.

—Stephen Macaulay

•••

Disbelief

Disbelief is all I could muster. To think that two dozen men could wreak that kind of havoc on a stunned country in a single day! And that one day has led to trillions of dollars of American wealth being spent on a 20-year-long unwinnable war. Worst single day in American history since December 7th, 1941.

--Jim McCraw

•••

9/11 and Today

We all remember where we were, those of us old enough, when the tragedy of 9-11 occurred. I was the CEO of a medical transcription company located in Pittsburgh and got a call that morning from my mom, Eleanor Iwinski, who told me a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. In an earlier career I had made hundreds of visits to those towers doing negotiations with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Friends and acquaintances worked there, but I assured my Mother that it wasn't something to worry about as the design of the towers made it unlikely that a small plane -- my assumption -- would have much effect. She called back a few minutes later and said I should get to a television.

I gathered with my team in the conference room and watched with utter shock as the North Tower burned, and then witnessed the strike on the South Tower. It was apparent by now this was no accident and these were not small planes. Shortly after that, the emergency notification system advised that a third plane was flying over Pittsburgh and that people should leave work. Everyone quickly gathered their things and headed home to share the tragedy with their loved ones. It turns out the third plane that briefly flew past Pittsburgh was Flight 93 and it came to rest in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Billions of words have been shared about the sacrifices made and what heroes did on that horrific day. I cannot adequately add to the poetry of sorrow already expressed.

It would seem to me, however, that the best memorial to those lives taken away and those later sacrificed in far-off lands like Afghanistan and Iraq would be that we, as Americans, would have learned and matured and take a more serious view of our place in the world and the inherent responsibilities that fall upon the most powerful nation on the planet, both economically and militarily.

So where do we stand, 20 years later?

• Our political system is in chaos with the last two elections seriously contested by the losing party and trust in both politicians generally and our system of governance as fallen to all-time lows.

•Those who would challenge us militarily and economically for global dominance have gained ground while we have had a series of increasingly ill-considered global doctrines.

•Our allies no longer trust us and our enemies no longer respect us.

•We undertook a 20-year struggle in Afghanistan to root out terror to protect American people and instead exited in a most ignoble and pathetic fashion, leaving allies and Americans behind along with $85 billion worth of sophisticated military ordnance that will undoubtedly be used to attack Americans as terrorists may now walk across the southern border unhindered.

I do have hopes that these trends can be reversed but it is by no means certain if we continue our Benjamin-Button-like acceleration to immaturity and insignificance.

--David Iwinski

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Please email your reflections and memories of 9/11 to editors@thehustings.news

Reflections on and memories of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 are in the center column.

_____
Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

•Tomorrow, The Hustings will post reflections and memories of the terrorist attacks of 20 years ago by our staff and contributors. To join the conversation, please email your comments on September 11, 2001, to editors@thehustings.news. All comments will be posted in the middle column.

Scroll down to read …

•Jim McCraw comments on the Supreme Court’s refusal to consider challenges to Texas’ new abortion restrictions.

•Reader comment on President Biden’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

•Stephen Macaulay on the Biden administration’s $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation bill.

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

•On Saturday, September 11, The Hustings talks about the terrorist attacks of 20 years ago. Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news or click the comment button here.

Biden Mandates Vaccines – In a speech Thursday afternoon, Joe Biden presented a six-point plan to stop the spread of COVID-19, including specific mandates as well as recommendations. During his address Biden scolded the vaccine-refusers: “Our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us.”

Key provisions of the White House mandate:

•Requires all employees with 100 or more employees to ensure workers are vaccinated or tested weekly, requires vaccination for all federal workers and for millions of contractors that do business with the federal government, and requires COVID-19 vaccinations for more than 17 million health care workers at Medicare and Medicaid participating hospitals and health care “settings.”

•Also “calls on” entertainment venues to require either proof of vaccination or testing for entry.

•Requires employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated.

•Provides easy access to booster shots for all eligible Americans, and ensures Americans know where to get such shots.

•Calls on all states to adopt vaccination requirements for all school employees, provides federal funding to school districts for safe re-opening, requires students and staff to get tested regularly, and provides “every resource” to the Food & Drug Administration to “support timely review of vaccines” for children under 12 years old.

•Increases testing and masking and adds new support for small businesses affected by shutdowns, while also streamlining the paycheck protection program (PPP) loan guarantees.

Note:  Vaccinating America to stop the spread of COVID-19 should be an uncontroversial method of stanching damage to the nation’s physical and economic health, but it has become a key tool in the GOP’s efforts to make Joe Biden’s presidency a failed administration. Not surprisingly, the Republican National Committee announced Friday it would sue the Biden administration over “un-Constitutional mandates.” 

“Joe Biden told Americans when he was elected that he would not impose vaccine mandates. He lied,” said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, in a statement. “Now small businesses, workers, and families across the country will pay the price.”

Several Republican governors have said that they will sue the Administration for “overreach.”

Even some supporters of the president are critical, noting that the White House waited so long to impose such vaccination and masking mandates, after a summer in which it began to celebrate an end to the pandemic and economic recovery too early. The CDC’s confusing policy on masking in public is a particular point of criticism.

•••

Long-Distance Phone Bill for Biden and China’s XI – President Biden spoke with Peoples Republic of China President Xi Jingping on their first phone call since February, Thursday night. It was a long gap considering the cold economic war growing over trade between the two countries, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and cybersecurity concerns. The call, which Biden initiated, was an “effort to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the PRC,” according to the White House.

Note: Leaders in Beijing had hoped Biden would take a more conciliatory approach to trade between the two countries than had Donald Trump. But U.S.-Chinese trade policy has proven to be one of the few issues on which Biden agrees with the former president, and the White House’s concentration on the coronavirus pandemic has put any progress on improving relations on ice. It’s hard to imagine much improvement through next year.

•••

Vets Support Afghan Exit — A Morning Consult poll finds that 58% of veterans of the war in Afghanistan support Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from the country. Specifically, 42% strongly support it and 16% “somewhat support it.” On the other side, 35% are against it (27% strongly and 8% somewhat). 

When the survey pool was opened up to all voters, 27% strongly supported the decision and 25% somewhat support it; 23% strongly oppose it and 14% somewhat oppose it.

Note: While it is easy for armchair pundits (including those of us here at The Hustings) to opine on Biden’s decision, it is interesting to note the support of the women and men who actually were in the Afghan war. What’s more those surveyed against the decision — both vets and the general public — come in below 50%. While the exit may have been messy, the decision to make an exit has solid support.

•••

Cheney Tweets Her Response to Trump’s Primary Pick – Former President Trump, asserting his position as the GOP’s national leader, has endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman for next year’s Republican primary for Wyoming’s single, at-large member of the House of Representatives (per Roll Call). The incumbent representative, fellow Republican Liz Cheney, responded via a platform Trump can no longer use, Twitter: “Here’s a sound bite for you: Bring it.”

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

•Tomorrow, The Hustings will post reflections and memories of the terrorist attacks of 20 years ago by our staff and contributors. To join the conversation, please email your comments on September 11, 2001, to editors@thehustings.news. All comments will be posted in the middle column.

Scroll down to read …

•Bryan Williams and Stephen Macaulay comment on the Supreme Court’s refusal to consider challenges to Texas’ new abortion restrictions.

•David Iwinski’s commentary on President Biden’s mismanagement of the Afghanistan withdrawal. 

•Iwinski, again, comments on Democrats’ $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation “boondoggle.”

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

Our columnists react to the Supreme Court declining an interim decision on a new Texas law, which restricts abortions after six weeks...

There used to be a concept in the United States called "settled law," a term that has been quoted by SCOTUS justices thousands of times in oral and written arguments. 

There are videos of current justices referring to Roe v. Wade as "settled law." In the face of the original decision almost half a century ago, considering settled law, how is it possible that the Texas law can stand? The court's decision in 1973 seemed pretty damn final to me then, and it seems final to me now. Legal abortion is the right of every woman to operate her own reproductive system without fear or favor, every day. ALL women in America, rich and poor, white and Asian, Black women and Hispanic women. --Jim McCraw

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By Todd Lassa

After 48 years as the most contentious issue in American politics, abortion rights created by the Roe v. Wade decision faces a likely reversal after the Supreme Court of the United States reconvenes its regular session next month. The means for this is a restrictive Texas law that essentially deputizes citizens from inside and outside the state to turn in any woman who seeks an abortion after a heartbeat is detected. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, signed the new law, SB 8, in May.

The guarantee of this challenge would not be possible without former President Trump’s success in replacing three Supreme Court justices (and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, R-KY, blocking of then-President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to replace the late Justice Antony Scalia) with Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Last week, as the House of Representatives and Senate were on summer recess, the Court rejected challenges to the new Texas law, 5-4, thus allowing it to stand for now.

But Merrick Garland, now U.S. attorney general under the Biden administration, promises to “protect” women’s rights to abortion in the state. Such companies as Uber and Lyft say they will legally cover any contractors fined as a result of the new law, which makes it possible the services’ drivers could be fined $10,000 for delivering a woman to an abortion clinic, whether they know the reason for the trip or not. SB 8 places enforcement of the abortion restrictions on private citizens, whether from Texas or another state, instead of government officials. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has announced that the House will take up Rep. Judy Chu’s, D-CA, Women’s Health Protection Act by the end of September (per USA Today). It would codify SCOTUS’ 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and guarantee a pregnant woman’s right to access an abortion and assure a provider would be able to perform abortions. 

Bolstered by national polls that suggest a majority of American voters – especially young voters – support abortion rights, Democratic Party leaders are taking Republicans’ longstanding opposition to next November’s midterm elections, with hopes of defeating a widely held expectation that the GOP could potentially retake both chambers. 

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Our columnists react to the Supreme Court declining an interim decision on a new Texas law, which restricts abortions after six weeks...

All I smell in this Texas abortion law brouhaha is politics and gamesmanship. Abortion is, of course, an age-old moral issue. Just pick your side: The morals of protecting life, or the morals of protecting the individual (woman’s) right to do with her body as she see most fit.

I am of the Millennial Generation, but as with any label, it is not One Size Fits All. The mainstream media will always portray Millennials as progressive (and not wanting to pay for things, but that is a story for another column). 

I fit somewhere in there – somewhat left-of-center, to the center of moral/social issues, and pretty conservative on all the rest. To me, abortion is an issue for families; Mother and father, or for the mother and her God to work out, not governments, and especially not a random citizen, even from another state, to sue abortion providers and anyone helping a woman obtain an abortion. All the Texas law does is stoke the flames of the political battle for control of Congress in the November 2022 elections. I am sighing.  --Bryan Williams

•••

Look at a simple dictionary definition of incest: “sexual intercourse between two members of the same family, such as a father and daughter, brother and sister.”

Look at a simple dictionary definition of rape: “sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury.”

And while on the topic of sexual intercourse, know that statistically there is a 25% probability that a woman will become pregnant if it happens during her fertile period.

The Texas anti-abortion law doesn’t give any leeway for victims of incest or rape.

If they don’t get the abortion within the six-week window, too bad.

Think about that.

Some father rapes his daughter. She is the victim. And she carries the child to term? What happens to her life, knowing, as she will that she was the object of incest and rape?

Some thug rapes an innocent woman who, perhaps, never intended to have a child or who already has several that she has trouble taking care of. Even though a crime was committed against her, she is expected to carry the child? Or what about a 12-year-old who is raped and terrified to tell her parents?

What will the lives of the people who are borne of these violent acts be like?

Yes, because I am writing these words I understand that I have the opportunity to make observations and had I been aborted, I wouldn’t. Although I am not in favor of abortion as a bizarre method of birth control, I am firmly against forcing victims of crime to do something they don’t want to do. Should the victim of incest or rape decide to go forward with the pregnancy, this should be their decision, just as they should be able to decide otherwise.

While there is a considerable amount of deserved attention on the fact that people can get cash bonuses if they behave like citizens of the former East Germany, where squealing on your neighbors—or even family members—was promoted, this making pregnancies that are the result of incest or rape seemingly normal is something that is really abhorrent.

Texas Gov. Abbott says they will “eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas.”

Sure, tell yourself that. --Stephen Macaulay

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Voice your opinions on current issues by emailing editors@thehustings.news, or click the “comment” button on the left column page. Click the headline above in order to single out this column, and then click on The Hustings banner above to return to the three-column home page. 

We value your civil, respectful comments and we hope you help make this political news website an alternative form of social media.

Also in the left column …

•A reader comments on President Biden’s controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan, and its apparent lack of planning.

•Stephen Macaulay comments on the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, and on the progressive vs. moderate Democrats’ struggle over the Biden administration’s budget reconciliation package in “Biden’s Lack of Follow Through.”

•Craig Fahle’s comments on moderate Democrats’ unwillingness to compromises on the budget reconciliation bill in “Don’t Screw this Up, Democrats.”

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Voice your opinions on current issues by emailing editors@thehustings.news, or click the “comment” button on the right-column page. Click the headline above in order to single out this column, and then click on The Hustings banner above to return to the three-column home page. 

We value your civil, respectful comments and we hope you help make this political news website an alternative form of social media.

Also in the right column …

•David Iwinski’s comments on the Biden White House’s mismanagement of the Afghanistan withdrawal in “The Biden Debacle.”

•Iwinski again, on profligate progressive Democratic spending proposals in “Progressives Push Another Budget Boondoggle.”

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Editors:

I own a small business and see homelessness, hunger and abuse of power (in Afghanistan). However, until we take care of our own how can we help others? I see (Afghani) refugees go into hotels in California that could have housed the homeless. People are being evicted and we are spending money on a country that would not help us if the tables were turned. This is not our business!

--Angela Barbara, Yermo, California

•••

Can Biden's Presidency Be Saved?

The tragic suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport should not be politicized, former Republican strategist and No Labels co-founder Mark McKinnon said Thursday night on MSNBC’s The Eleventh Hour, where he’s a regular guest pundit. Indeed, while both arms of the American political horseshoe agree Thursday was the worst day of Joseph Biden’s presidency, many to the left of the Fox News regulars say that if evacuations continue swiftly and efficiently, if not very safely by next Tuesday’s deadline, the result will be as good as could be expected from any recent commander-in-chief.

In his press conference yesterday, Biden once again evoked the deal his predecessor made with the Taliban, when he took a question from “the most interesting guy I know in the press.”

That would be Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy, who asked Biden whether he bears responsibility in the killing of 13 U.S. troops in Thursday’s blasts.

“I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that has happened,” Biden responded. But he continued, “The former president made a deal with the Taliban that he would get all the American forces out of Afghanistan by May 1. In return, the commitment was made, and that was a year before, in return, he was given a commitment that the Taliban would continue to attack others but would not attack any forces. Remember that?”

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News & Notes -- Blame Pompeo?

While Democrats and the left have, overall, leveled considerable criticism on President Biden for a lack of planning in the withdrawal of tens of thousands of Americans and local allies from Afghanistan by the August 31 deadline, Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continues to draw more and more scrutiny over the issue, Politico reports.

Pompeo led Trump’s efforts to negotiate with the Taliban early last year for the withdrawal, without any input from Afghanistan’s duly elected government. Trump floated the possibility of hosting Taliban leaders at a summit at Camp David, and ultimately set a withdrawal date of May 1 of this year, under the misguided assumption he would be re-elected.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

•News & Notes is on Labor Day weekend holiday recess, returning Tuesday, September 7. 

•You can still comment on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, or other recent news items, for posting in the left or right column of The Hustings. Click the comment button, or email editors@thehustings.news.

UPDATE – The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to leave the Texas law banning abortions after six weeks in place. It rejected Wednesday night a request to block enforcement as legal challenges to its constitutionality are litigated in lower courts (per SCOTUSblog). Chief Justice John Roberts joined the three liberal justices in opposition to the ruling.

•••

>1,000 Assaults on Police January 6 — There were some 1,000-plus assaults on police during the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol according to a court filing, Politico reports, quoting Emily Miller, federal prosecutor leading the evidence collection for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., as writing, “Based on a review of the body-worn-camera footage conducted by our Office, the footage displays approximately 1,000 events that may be characterized as assaults on federal officers.”

Note: Remember when Rep. Andrew S. Clyde, R-GA, described the riot as a “normal tourist visit”? Or Donald Trump gushing about how there was “a lot of love” during the insurrection? For the party that used to be that of “law and order,” it seems as though there is more than a modicum of support for “crime and disorder.”

•••

SCOTUS Declines to Block Restrictive Texas Abortion Law – The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take action Tuesday night on Texas Senate Bill 8, a nearly complete ban on abortions, The New York Times reports. The bill allows health care providers in the state to be sued for providing abortion services and makes no exceptions for incest or rape. The law restricts abortions for mothers who are at least six weeks pregnant. 

An emergency application by abortion providers who are trying to block SB 8 is pending, and SCOTUS is expected to rule on it presently. 

Note: Loading of the federal courts with conservative judges, as well as Senate Republicans’ successful replacement of SCOTUS Justices Antony Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg over the last four years is about to lead to a (likely successful) challenge to 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision.

•••

Biden Refuses to Back Down on Need to End 20-Year War – President Biden’s address to the nation Tuesday afternoon following the United States’ one-day early withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan drove home many of the points he has made since evacuations began last month as the Taliban swiftly took over Afghanistan. His administration refused to count on an Afghan government crippled by corruption and unwilling to rely on a security force with 20 years of training and support by U.S. troops to fight back. 

“After 20 years I refuse to send another soldier to fight a war that should have ended long ago,” Biden told the nation.

Note: The Taliban were quickly pushed out during the Bush administration, and now they are back in. Excepting suppression of terrorist attacks this qualifies as an unmitigated U.S. defeat, a result that must annoy neocons as much now as hawks were miffed at the Vietnam result 46 years ago.

After serious criticism of a poorly planned withdrawal and Saigon-like images of helicopters removing people from the roof of the U.S. embassy in the last couple of weeks, Biden is getting a bit of relief from the right and left this week as he attempts to shift much of the blame to previous administrations, especially Donald Trump’s. The president reported that 5,500 Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan, with 100 to 200 remaining who he says will get out if they want. The fate of allies, including Afghan interpreters for American soldiers is, and always has been, the main point of attacks on the Biden administration. Several American veterans’ groups are working to keep “promises” to such allies, including those who are the subject of anecdotes of how they saved many of our troops’ lives. 

Biden says 120,000 people have been airlifted from Afghanistan at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. There have been no reliable estimates of the number of allies and their families, but reports say the Taliban is “hunting” down anyone who has helped the U.S. effort since late 2001. Some of the blame for lack of such evacuations is directed to the State Department’s exceptionally bureaucratic Special Immigrant Visa program.

The other red meat for hard-liner Republicans, some of whom continue to call for Biden’s impeachment, is the issue of billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment, including airplanes and helicopters and ground vehicles falling into the hands of Taliban fighters, but Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, chief of U.S. Central Command confirmed Tuesday they were permanently disabled before the last soldier jumped on a C-130 military transport just before midnight local time Monday. 

Ex-President Donald J. Trump told Fox Business’ Varney & Co. Tuesday that the Biden administration cannot execute “a simple withdrawal from a country that we should have ever gotten into in the first place.”

But hard-right pundit-provocateur Ann Coulter tweeted this: “Thank you, President Biden, for keeping a promise Trump made, but then abandoned when he got to office.” Then, hitting Trump where he especially feels it, she later tweeted this: “Trump REPEATEDLY demanded that we bring our soldiers home, but only President Biden had the balls to do it.”

The Poll: According to a poll released by the Pew Research Center Tuesday:

•54% said the U.S. decision to withdraw was the right one; 42% said it was wrong.

•69% said the U.S. failed to achieve its goals in Afghanistan; 27% said the U.S. succeeded.

•42% said the Biden administration did a “poor” job of executing the Afghanistan withdrawal; 29% said his actions were “only fair”: 21% “good”; 6% said Biden did an “excellent” job.

•••

New Afghani Leader – The Taliban is set to name Hibatullah Akhundzada as Afghanistan’s new leader, The New York Times reports.

•••

Ending Enhanced Unemployment Insurance Early Didn’t Help – Job growth was not enhanced in the half of U.S. states that cut off early an extra $300 per week in federal unemployment insurance funds that were part of President Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, according to The Wall Street Journal. Citing economists and its own analysis of the numbers, states that shut off the additional $300 per week in unemployment insurance from the federal program, meant to enhance states’ standard unemployment insurance, had “about the same job growth” as states that continued to offer the pandemic-related extra aid. The extra unemployment insurance ends next week.

Note: Many businesses that re-opened as COVID-19 vaccinations began last spring and early summer had complained of worker shortages, particularly restaurants, hotels and other service-related industries. While some Republican lawmakers blamed the extra $300 per week for keeping unemployed out of the job market, the Journal posits that family care responsibilities, school closures, imbalance of available jobs, fear of COVID-19 and employee retirements had much to do with the worker shortages.

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Nic Woods and Gary S. Vasilash

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BULLETIN -- TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2021

War in Afghanistan is Over – The U.S. has officially left Afghanistan, site of its longest war, a day early. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command said the last airplane out left at 3:59 p.m. Eastern time, or 11:59 Kabul time on Monday, the Associated Press reports, 24 hours ahead of President Biden’s deadline. Fewer than 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, and it’s “likely closer to 100.” The State department will continue to work to get them out, he said. The U.S. has suffered more than 2,400 casualties since the war began in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001, the AP says. The Taliban are once again in charge of the country.

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News & Notes -- MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2021

•OUR SUMMER RECESS: The Hustings will post once again this week, after Tuesday’s Afghanistan withdrawal deadline, and then return after the extended Labor Day weekend, on Tuesday, September 6.

•Hurricane Ida has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it hovers over the Mississippi River, the AP reports. Ida made landfall over Louisiana Sunday 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people.

•Tuesday is President Biden’s deadline for U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The number of troops helping airlift remaining citizens as well as local allies has been reduced from 5,800 to about 4,000.

U.S. Military Has Capacity to Airlift 300 Remaining Americans – The United States has the capacity to evacuate approximately 300 Americans remaining in Afghanistan before the Tuesday deadline to leave, the Associated Press reports. The U.S. military intercepted five rocket fire attacks aimed at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport Monday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. 

“This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission these last couple of days,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken (AP). The U.S. has conducted two drone strikes against ISIS-K militants since more than 200 Afghanis and 13 U.S. troops were killed in last Thursday’s suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate of Karzai Airport.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week Sunday, Blinken said he expects the Taliban will continue to allow people to leave Afghanistan after Tuesday’s deadline.

Note: There are still many U.S. allies who helped our two-decade war effort in Afghanistan desperate to get out, though several different numbers have been bandied about, most in the “hundreds of thousands.” It seems criticism of President Biden’s late planning for the August 31 withdrawal from Afghanistan has been tamped down a bit over the weekend, as analysts criticize misguided attempts at “nation building” by four presidents over nearly 20 years. 

•••

France Proposes Kabul Airport Safe Zone – France and the United Kingdom will propose to the United Nations Security Council establishment of a “safe zone” at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in order to continue to allow people to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron told Le Journal du Dimanche, as reported by Politico.

“Our resolution proposal aims to define a safe zone in Kabul, under UN control, which would allow humanitarian operations to continue,” Macron said. In the interview, he said that the U.K. backs the proposal, though there has been no confirmation from London.

•••

Berenson Banned from Twitter — Alex Berenson, American thriller writer and former New York Times reporter, has been permanently banned from Twitter for violating COVID-19 misinformation rules. The Hill reports it received a statement from a Twitter spokesperson that reads: “The account was permanently suspended for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules.”

Note: Newsweek noted that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, took to Twitter to write: “I don’t know Berenson. But all the Leftie Brown Shirts cheering his being banned — you are the problem. You’re supporting authoritarian billionaires’ arbitrary censorship. & you are contributing to so many people’s distrust of Covid info — by silencing dissent, many are skeptical.” Not surprising, Cruz has gone over the top. The “Brown Shirts” he references goes to the Nazi Sturmabteilung, storm troopers. People Tweeting about a Twitter ban? And isn’t it somewhat ironic that Cruz has taken to the very billionaires’ site?

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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News & Notes -- FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2021

•Vice President Kamala Harris has cancelled a Friday campaign rally for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recall election, due to Thursday’s suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan. In the latest polls, conservative radio host Larry Elder leads a slate of 46 candidates challenging the Democratic governor in the recall. 

Biden Takes Responsibility, Vows Revenge for Suicide Bombing – Because at least 95 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops are dead after a suicide bombing Thursday at the Abbey Gate of Kabul, Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai International Airport (the Associated Press), President Biden made an address to the nation Thursday, which he ended with a moment of silence. 

[Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said in a press conference Friday morning that a single suicide bomber triggered the blast Thursday, not two bombers as initially reported amidst the fog of the scene.]

While delivering his prepared remarks Biden vowed revenge against those responsible. 

“We will respond with force and precision at our time, at the place of our choosing. These ISIS terrorists will not win. We will rescue the Americans, we will get our Afghan allies out and our mission will go on,” he said. 

Biden said U.S. troops will complete the mission to evacuate Americans and allies by the deadline of next Tuesday, August 31, but that he would fulfill any request for additional resources made by military leaders. Biden’s promise of vengeance for yesterday’s tragedy indicates some sort of strategic U.S. presence in Afghanistan, though the president did not elaborate. 

Note: Biden’s way forward is to complete the withdrawal as safely as possible by next Tuesday’s deadline, and maintain some sort of U.S. intelligence presence in the Graveyard of Empires potentially indefinitely – even with the withdrawal, President George W. Bush’s War on Terrorism appears to carry on in some form nearly 20 years after it began.

“We will never forgive,” Biden said to the terrorists yesterday. “We will never forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”

What’s going on?: After the Taliban’s quick takeover of most of Afghanistan, ISIS-K surfaced as an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Islamic State, or ISIS. Analysts note that Texas-sized Afghanistan is made of individual warlords controlling each of these regions, but in the post-U.S. war era, it’s going to potentially get messier than ever. Experts and analysts appearing on CNN, NPR, MSNBC, et. al. do not agree on ISIS-K’s relationship with the Taliban now leading the country. The generally accepted analysis is that ISIS-K and the Taliban are enemies – some analysts now say they are now working together and blame equal responsibility for yesterday’s attacks, while The Washington Post to name just one outlet, says ISIS-K considers both the U.S. and the Taliban to be enemies.

•••

Afghan President Alleged to Have Absconded with U.S. Funds – The House of Representatives Oversight Committee’s ranking Republican, James Comer of Kentucky, and Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-WI, have called on Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to give the committee a briefing on U.S. taxpayer dollars allegedly spirited out of Afghanistan by president-in-exile Ashraf Ghani, Fox News reports. 

Comer and Grothman are looking into allegations that Ghani ran off with as much as $169 million in U.S. aid to Afghanistan. Ghani fled the country for the United Arab Emirates (and if he took anything with him it’s in a Swiss bank account) just as Taliban forces were taking control of its capital, Kabul, saying he left in order to avoid certain bloodshed.

Note: Yes – Ghani’s own bloodshed. This potential investigation only supports critics of the U.S.’s 20 years in Afghanistan who argue that we have supported nearly 20 years of corrupt local politicians. The Afghan people may have been willing to fight back against the Taliban, but government and military leadership were only interested in taking the money and running.

•••

SCOTUS Ends Biden’s Eviction Moratorium – The Supreme Court, ruling via its “shadow docket” Thursday night, blocked the Biden administration from enforcing the national eviction moratorium via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention SCOTUSblog reports. It was a 6-3 ruling. The majority’s eight-page ruling said, in part, according to The Washington Post, “our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends. . .  It is up to Congress, not the CDC, to decide whether the public interest merits further action here.” 

Earlier this week, SCOTUS refused to block a lower court order that required the Biden administration to reinstate ex-President Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy for blocking illegal crossings along the Southern border.

Note: Biden’s executive order giving the CDC authority to extend the moratorium came only after the initial eviction moratorium imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic expired at the end of July. This one was set to expire October 3, but when Biden initially gave in to progressive Congressional Democrats’ demand for an extension, he warned that it probably would not survive court challenges on behalf of landlords who opposed the extension.

•••

Capitol Police Officer Shot Ashli Babbitt as “Last Resort” – The Capitol police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the January 6 pro-Trump insurrection told NBC News he shot her “only as a last resort.” In his first interview since the Capitol Hill riots, Lt. Michael Byrd said, “I saved countless lives.” He said 60-80 members of the House of Representatives were just inside the Capitol lobby where he and fellow officers tried to hold back the crowd.

•••

Seven Capitol Officers Sue Trump, Associates – Seven Capitol Police officers have filed suit against ex-President Trump, some of his associates and white supremacist groups in Federal District Court for the District of Columbia over the January 6 Capitol insurrection. The lawsuit alleges violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, The New York Times reports, and includes protections against violent conspiracies that interfere with Congress’ official duties. 

Pro-Trump rioters in the insurrection were attempting to prevent Congress from officially counting Electoral Count votes for Joseph Biden’s win over Donald J. Trump.

Defendants in the suit by the seven officers, five of whom are Black, include Trump confidant Roger Stone, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.

Note: This is the latest of three suits that have been filed charging Trump and his coterie of cronies associated with January 6. In addition to which, there are several other suits that will be working their way through the judicial system targeting Trump for curious financial activities. Odds are that if Trump decides to run again — assuming that his clothing doesn’t match the color of his hair by then — it will be so as to avoid prosecution. Quite a proud moment for America when a former president is even sued by police officers.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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News & Notes -- THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2021

•Two bomb blasts outside Kabul’s airport have been reported before noon Eastern U.S. time, according to the AP. The second blast was reported by Russia’s Foreign Ministry. There are 13 reported dead and 15 injuries, including among U.S. troops, from the two explosions.

•With Congress on recess, President Biden concentrates on foreign issues today, beginning with an update on the Afghanistan withdrawal prior to two bilateral meetings with Israel’s new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, by noon Politico reports. This afternoon Biden will hold several Zoom calls with governors who have volunteered to help re-settle Afghani refugees.

•French President Emmanuel Macron headed to Ireland to meet with its president, Michael Higgins, today to convince the country’s leaders to sign on to a 15% minimum corporate tax rate as recommended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Politico Europe reports. Ireland has been able to attract economic development via low corporate taxes for several decades.

•Ty Garbin, 26, the only of six men to plead guilty of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D, last year, was sentenced in federal court to six years in prison yesterday, NPR reports. (See Wednesday’s News & Notes.)

•A three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the 2017 death sentence of Dylan Roof, the first to be convicted of a federal hate crime, for the 2015 slaying of nine members of the Black congregation of Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., Politico reports. 

Running Out of Time in Kabul – U.S. allies have halted evacuation operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, The Wall Street Journal reports. About 1,500 Americans remain to be evacuated, although “at least 250,000” Afghani allies who worked with Americans haven’t been evacuated, according to a report in The New York Times.

That’s “far too many for American forces to rescue by deadline next Tuesday,” the Times reports. The current pace is about 20,000 per day, with nearly 96,000 Americans rescued since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan August 14. 

Americans and allies trying to withdraw in earnest by next Tuesday’s deadline, along with the Taliban, face a third threat: Isis-K, or Islamic State of Khorasan, established 2015 in Eastern Afghanistan. It is a sworn enemy of the Taliban, according to The Times of London. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has warned remaining Americans to avoid approaching the airport until they receive specific instructions from a U.S. representative to do so (Politico). “U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately.”

Note: While Democrats and Republicans alike continue to criticize the Biden administration over the likelihood that tens of thousands of Afghan allies and their families will be left to the Taliban (with some Republican members of Congress even calling for the president’s impeachment), some commentators at such outlets as Fox News argue that the U.S. should close its borders to Afghani evacuees and not re-settle them here.

•••

Brits to Afghans Trying to Flee: Run for the Border — British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace held a Zoom call with members of Parliament yesterday during which he said about remaining Afghan citizens who had helped British efforts in the country: “If they think they can make it to a third country, that may be better and safer. I recommend trying to get to the border,” according to Politico, citing reporting from The i. It also cites The Times’ (London) reporting Wallace saying “not everyone is going to get out.” There are reportedly some 1,500 eligible Afghans the Brits had yet to evacuate.

Note: This is clearly heart-rending regarding those people who are being advised to get to Iran or Pakistan. While Wallace’s remarks came from leaks, not public pronouncements, at least there is some semblance of speaking the truth of the situation on the ground – a situation which for the British is undoubtedly not any different from the situation facing Afghans who had helped out the U.S. efforts. 

•••

1/6 Committee Requests Trump Administration Records – The January 6 select committee in the House of Representatives has requested a treasure trove of Trump administration records related to the day the former president’s supporters attacked the Capitol, from the National Archives and Records Administration and seven other agencies, according to Roll Call. Committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-MS, has given the Archives and Records agency until September 9 to turn over the documents, which include Trump’s January 6 schedule, White House visitor records, and information about White House efforts to impede the Electoral College vote. Some of those records had previously been requested by other House committees, Roll Call says. 

The other agencies involved in the request are departments of Justice, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center and the office of the Director of National Intelligence.

•••

Federal Judge Sanctions Pro-Trump Attorneys – Federal Judge Linda Parker has sanctioned pro-Trump attorneys who launched an effort last year to overturn Michigan’s Electoral College vote for Joseph Biden in last November’s election. Parker ruled that attorneys Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood failed to perform due diligence in investigating claims of voter fraud in Detroit before filing their lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s results, WDET-FM reported on NPR, and attempted to “undermine faith in the election process,” Parker said in her ruling.

Powell and Wood have been ordered to pay court fees and take continuing education law courses.

Note: Powell is soliciting funds from supporters to pay for court costs, WDET says, further perpetuating ex-President Trump’s “Big Lie” among supporters who might otherwise admit from Parker’s ruling that the election was fair and ballots were accurately counted. 

•••

German Company Reaches Deal to Acquire Politico – Germany’s Axel Stringer has reached a deal to acquire Politico, according to a report by The Hill. Axel Stringer is a 50-50 partner with Politico, of Arlington, Virginia, in ownership of the Politico Europe joint venture and thus will acquire the remaining share in the deal. Terms of the deal have not been announced, although The Hill says several sources have put it upwards of $1 billion.

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods

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•••

Republicans Call on Biden to Resign

A “long list” of Republican congress members and leaders have called on President Biden to resign over his handling of the evacuation of Americans and allies in Afghanistan, Fox News reports. The cable network conducted a 32-minute, 27-second phone interview with Donald J. Trump, in which the former president called Biden’s evacuation of Kabul, “the dumbest move ever made in U.S. history.”

The list includes presumed 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who had served as South Carolina governor before she was Trump’s United Nations ambassador. “But that would leave us with Kamala Harris, which would be 10 times worse,” she said, according to Fox News. “God help us.”

Indeed, several Republicans called on both the president and the vice president to resign, which would move House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, into the White House.

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News & Notes -- Biden's Approval Rating is Below 50%

As the Biden administration struggles to extricate Americans and allies who helped the U.S. military in Afghanistan over nearly 20 years of our presence, the president’s approval ratings in the polls has slipped below 50%, FiveThirtyEight reports. In its average of major polls as of Day 219 of the administration, President Biden’s approval rating is 47.5%, with a disapproval rating of 46.9%. [https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/]

For Day 219, Biden’s approval rating betters only President Trump, who was at 36.9% this time four years ago, compared with the last three presidents. Barack Obama had a 51.4% average approval rating on Day 219 of 2019, and George W. Bush was at 52.8% in August 2001, FiveThirtyEight says.

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