“Seven months after he was pardoned by President Donald Trump, a former editor of The New York Observer was charged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office on Wednesday, accused of spying on his former wife by unlawfully accessing her computer,” the New York Times reports.
“The former editor, Ken Kurson, a close friend of Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was charged with eavesdropping and computer trespass, both felonies.”
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has released a security alert informing Americans still in Afghanistan that it “cannot ensure safe passage to the Hamid Karzai International Airport.”
“Please be advised that a significant number of individuals have registered and space on these flights is available on a first come, first serve basis.”
The Biden administration will require nursing home staff vaccinations as condition for federal funds, the AP reports.
A new BUSR/Susquehanna Polling and Research poll in Florida finds Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with a 46% to 43% lead over former Gov. Charlie Crist (D) in a 2022 gubernatorial match up.
DeSantis leads Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D), 50% to 40%.
Crist leads Fried by 11 points in the Democratic primary.
“A Republican investment analyst on Tuesday won a special election to fill a vacant seat in the Connecticut state Senate, the first state legislative seat to flip parties in the seven months since President Biden took office,” The Hill reports.
Washington Post: “The United States is currently experiencing a surge in worker productivity that could rival that of the tech boom 20 years ago — if it lasts. As companies and customers embrace new technologies, making it easier for Americans to produce more with fewer workers, a growing number of economists say this is not a blip and could turn into a boom — or, at least, a ‘mini boom’ ― with wide-ranging benefits for years to come.”
“The optimism this time derives partly from Congress and the White House taking steps to make significant investments in physical and digital infrastructure, and partly from the coronavirus pandemic forcing rapid and widespread adoption of the digital economy, robots and artificial intelligence.”
“Nearly 61% of U.S households paid no federal income taxes during pandemic-stricken year of 2020, because of declines in income and boosts to government subsidies that wiped away tax liabilities,” Bloomberg reports.
“The 60.6% proportion for last year compares with 43.3% over the five years before the pandemic struck.”
Texas state Rep. Jessica González (D), who was criticized for going to Portugal after House Democrats absconded to Washington, has confirmed for the first time why she left the country: to get married, the Dallas Morning News reports.
The Independent: “Current and former national security officials and experts… describe a dysfunctional situation at the National Security Council, in which top aides did not fully grasp the seriousness of the intelligence being delivered to them by those on the ground because they lacked the operational experience to recognize the situation for what it was.”
“Others say the failure of the U.S. project in Afghanistan stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the motivations of America’s erstwhile Afghan allies… People in Biden’s orbit who were contacted for this story pushed back on the characterization of ‘panic’ within the NSC.”
Reuters: “About 5,000 diplomats, security staff, aid workers and Afghans have been evacuated from Kabul in the last 24 hours… The evacuations by military flights will continue around the clock, he said, adding that clearing the chaos outside the airport was a challenge.”
Iran has closed its border with Afghanistan, the BBC reports.
“While Republicans are running a hotly competitive primary race for Ohio’s open Senate seat next year, the Democratic side had been owned by a single candidate: Rep. Tim Ryan from the Youngstown area,” the New York Times reports.
“But that equation changed on Wednesday with the entry into the race of a second viable Democrat, Morgan Harper, who ran a high-profile primary challenge last year for a congressional seat with the backing of national progressive groups.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) rescinded a 19th century proclamation that called for citizens to kill Native Americans and take their property, in a move to atone for what he called “sins of the past,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“The 1864 order by Colorado’s second territorial governor, John Evans, eventually led to the Sand Creek massacre, one of Colorado’s darkest and most fraught historic moments. The brutal assault left more than 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne people — mostly women, children and older people — dead.”
“To understand President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan against the advice of the US military establishment, you need to go back to a debate that played out more than a decade ago, during the early years of Barack Obama’s presidency,” Vox reports.
“In 2009, the new Obama administration debated whether to ‘surge’ troop levels in Afghanistan after nearly eight years of war had failed to quell the insurgency from the overthrown Taliban forces. Top generals asked early that year for 17,000 more US troops and then, having gotten those, asked for an additional 40,000 to try to weaken the Taliban and strengthen the Afghan government.”
“Then-Vice President Biden was consistently one of the biggest skeptics of the military’s recommendations. Throughout months of debate, he repeatedly raised the inconvenient point that the generals’ preferred strategy seemed extremely unlikely to lead to actual victory.”
“In Britain, the chaotic departure from Afghanistan has drawn comparisons not to helicopters flying out of Saigon but to an earlier debacle: the 1956 Suez crisis, in which a humiliated Britain was forced to pull out of Egypt, having failed to dislodge its nationalist leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser,” the New York Times reports.
“The problem is, Britain had very little to say about the timing or tactics of the most recent withdrawal, even though it suffered the second-most casualties in the Afghanistan war after the United States. That has left British officials embarrassed and embittered at President Biden. Some say he behaved more like his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, than an ally who promised a new era of American partnership.”
John Cox (R), who is challenging California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in the upcoming state recall election, was served with a subpoena while onstage during a debate Tuesday, CNN reports.
Coming this fall: Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Schiff warns that the forces of autocracy unleashed by Donald Trump remain as potent as ever.
Wall Street Journal: “In 2001, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, tried to arrange the group’s surrender to the new U.S.-backed Afghan government. It was rejected. He spent most of the past decade under arrest in Pakistan.”
“He returns to power 20 years later after the U.S. lobbied for his release when the Trump administration launched talks with the Taliban. At the helm of the group’s political office in Doha, its de facto embassy, Mullah Baradar led talks with the U.S. that culminated in a deal to end America’s engagement in the 20-year war.”
“The world still has little idea who Afghanistan’s new leaders are and how they will rule the country. If the movement has a face, today it is Mullah Baradar. He is the highest-ranking leader of the movement to appear in public since it took back control of Afghanistan.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.