August 21, 2021 — Scott Johnson

Tom Rogan reports

Featured image Tom Rogan reports without attribution of any kind in the Washington Examiner: I understand that the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division has told the commander of the British special forces at the Kabul airport to cease operations beyond the airport perimeter. Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue has told his British Army counterpart, a high-ranking field-grade officer of the British army’s 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, that British operations were »
August 21, 2021 — Scott Johnson

Dumkirk!

Featured imageJoe Biden has half a mind to be president. Once upon a time I thought it was outré to say it out loud and point it out. Given the historic humiliation of the United States that is in process, however, that time is now time past. Today’s New York Post puts one form of the thought on the cover to promote its coverage of the humiliation — news stories such »
August 21, 2021 — Steven Hayward

The Week in Pictures: Kabul Cabal Edition

Featured imageWhat else is there to say about the comprehensive failure of the Biden presidency unfolding in front of our eyes? Jimmy Carter must be shaking his head, while Barack Obama is likely trying to scrub his reported remark on “never underestimate Joe’s ability to f— things up.” Where do I send the one-way plane ticket: Headlines of the week: The Babylon Bee predicts: And the Los Angeles Times delivers: American »
August 21, 2021 — Scott Johnson

Annals of liberal buffoonery

Featured imagePresident Biden sat for a recorded interview with Democratic operative/ABC News man George Stephanopoulos this week (transcript here). I took a superficial look in “A few tacos short.” There is much I didn’t get to and events have moved on since the interview, but I would like to pause briefly to note Biden’s assessment of the Taliban. Stephanopoulos asked Biden whether he believes the Taliban have changed. Deploying his choppers »
August 20, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

Joe Biden passes the buck

Featured imageCaroline Glick’s column about the Afghanistan debacle is worth reading in full. I want to focus this post on Glick’s discussion of Joe Biden’s attempt to place the blame for the fiasco on (1) Donald Trump and (2) the Afghans. Of Trump, Glick writes: Biden’s accusation that the Trump administration is responsible for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is wrong on several counts. As former president Donald Trump and his »
August 20, 2021 — John Hinderaker

A Kinder, Gentler Taliban?

Featured imageTaliban leaders claim to have moderated their conduct, if not their beliefs, since they last ruled most of Afghanistan. The Biden administration would like to take them at their word, since thousands of Americans are now at the mercy of the terrorist group. But views of the Taliban being expressed in other countries are not so sanguine. Take Germany, which had a vastly smaller footprint in Afghanistan than we did. »
August 20, 2021 — John Hinderaker

The Straight Story on Afghanistan

Featured imageWith the exception of the New York Post, American newspapers are generally trying to downplay the ongoing fiasco in Afghanistan. For example, my home town newspaper, the Star Tribune, does not have a single word about Afghanistan on today’s front page. To get more candid coverage, it helps to go overseas, as to the Telegraph: “Joe Biden’s asinine handling of Afghanistan could gift Donald Trump the White House.” The article »
August 20, 2021 — Steven Hayward

Breaking: The Left’s January 6 Narrative Just Went Poof—FBI

Featured imageReuters reports this morning, in a story billed as an “EXCLUSIVE,” that the FBI has concluded that there was no conspiracy or coordinated effort behind the events at the Capitol on January 6: The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials. »
August 20, 2021 — Scott Johnson

You’ve just crossed over

Featured imageOn Wednesday Joe Biden’s minders in the daycare operation at the White House sent him forth to stare vacantly into the teleprompter and deliver remarks in the East Room. With our ongoing national humiliation proceeding in Afghanistan, Biden sought to turn our attention to — booster shots. The press was summoned to serve as extras. Biden took no questions. I commented immediately following the conclusion of Biden’s remarks without the »
August 19, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

What is America “back” to?

Featured imageAs John noted earlier tonight, the Biden administration has told our allies that “America is back.” Does this mean that it was some imposter nation that destroyed the ISIS caliphate, took out the Iranian terrorist Soleimani, helped broker peace deals between Israel and important Arab states, and supplied Ukraine lethal aid with which to defend itself against Russia? I suppose this is all ancient history now. But what’s happening in »
August 19, 2021 — John Hinderaker

Where’s Kamala?

Featured imageTo my knowledge, Cacklin’ Kamala Harris hasn’t been seen since the Afghanistan crisis exploded. This silence contrasts with her attitude in April, when she suggested that she shared responsibility for Joe Biden’s Afghan policy, since she was “the last person in the room” when Biden made the decision to withdraw. So, where is Kamala? Preparing to depart on a trip to Singapore and Vietnam: Harris is due in Singapore on »
August 20, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

Biden speaks, Biden lies.

Featured imageJoe Biden spoke to the media this afternoon about Afghanistan. His talk lasted about ten minutes and he took questions for 15-20 minutes. Much of the Q&A amounted to a filibuster. Fact-checkers can have a field day with Biden’s talk, if they are so inclined. We’ll see if they are. One statement that can’t withstand scrutiny, and it’s a central one, is Biden’s claim that America has no interest in »
August 20, 2021 — Steven Hayward

“Jeopardy” in Jeopardy

Featured imageContestant: “I’ll take ‘Cancel Culture’ for $1,000, Alex.” Alex: “The foolproof trigger mechanism for career-ending events.” Contestant: “What is, ‘What happens when the Twitter mob scours your past history?'” Sure enough, the news is breaking that Jeopardy’s newly named host, Mike Richards, is stepping down because of unspecified “offensive jokes” he made some time in the past: The new host of “Jeopardy!” stepped down from the job Friday about a week »
August 20, 2021 — Scott Johnson

Proof

Featured imageEarlier this week I wrote about the press release and web page on the investigation of Ilhan Omar’s 2009 marriage to her brother in “A tale of Minnesota crime & politics.” Toward the end of my post I noted Miranda Devine’s New York Post column on the investigation. Devine appeared for a three-minute segment on Tucker Carlson Tonight discussing her column. I wrote about it yesterday in “Omar’s Daily Beast »
August 20, 2021 — Scott Johnson

Thoughts from the ammo line

Featured imageAmmo Grrrll calls on us for SMALL, POINTLESS REBELLIONS. She writes: One time in my comedy career, I had to entertain at a Jewish Sisterhood lunch (akin to the Christian Ladies’ Aid). Two minutes before I was to go on, the Rabbi got up and made a lengthy, tearful announcement of the sudden and unexpected death of a beloved parishioner. When he had finally quieted the keening, semi-hysterical room, he »
August 19, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

Team Biden ignored warnings from U.S. embassy of rapid Taliban takeover

Featured imageJoe Biden and Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chief of staffs, claim that no one anticipated the Taliban would quickly take over Afghanistan when the U.S. pulled out. Secretary of State Blinken says the Taliban’s takeover “happened more quickly than we anticipated.” But The Wall Street Journal reports that 23 State Department officials serving at the embassy in Kabul sent an internal memo to Blinken last month warning of »
August 19, 2021 — Steven Hayward

Annals of Liberal Cluelessness

Featured imageIt is hard, actually it is impossible, to overstate the cluelessness of the contemporary liberal, as the Biden Administration demonstrates on an hourly basis. Let’s record it with some Tweets: I’m sure the Taliban are siting around nervously, saying to themselves: “Oh no—a ‘strongly worded’ statement! Quick, get some intersectional Talibans on the phone right away!” A simple “must not surrender” would have saved this Blinken idiot two musts. And »