President Biden tried to put an optimistic face on the chaotic evacuations taking place at Kabul's airport as American forces scramble to remove US citizens and vulnerable Afghans from Afghanistan. In remarks at the White House today, he sought to project calm at the end of what has been a trying week for his administration. He took on criticism about how America's longest war is ending and injected more empathy for the suffering of Afghans into his remarks than he'd shown previously.

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An internal State Department memo last month warned top agency officials of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the U.S.’s Aug. 31 troop withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the document. The classified cable represents the clearest evidence yet that the administration had been warned by its own officials on the ground that the Taliban’s advance was imminent and Afghanistan’s military may be unable to stop it.

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It’s becoming increasingly clear that for some on the right, the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban takeover of the country simultaneously presents an opportunity and a challenge. On the one hand, of course, this offers a good chance to blame something terrible on President Biden. On the other, it means that the United States may soon welcome a new group of refugees.

Can they simultaneously argue that Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan is causing a catastrophe and that we should slam the door on Afghans who hope to find refuge in the United States? Of course they can.

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Should the vaccine be mandatory?

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President Biden met with George Stephanopoulos today.  The President stood firm in his defense of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, though he has no symptoms, the governor’s office announced.

An ardent opponent of mask and vaccine mandates, Mr. Abbott, a Republican, has taken his opposition to such requirements all the way to the state Supreme Court.

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Experts studying the issue agree that sea level rise in coming decades could pose an enormous threat to San Francisco Bay’s shoreline. So perhaps it’s no surprise that there’s now talk of looking into an equally enormous response. Why not build a barrier to keep rising tides outside the Golden Gate? Researchers in the past have dismissed this seemingly straightforward concept on environmental grounds. Engineers are skeptical, too. But the enormity of the challenge has some Bay Area leaders saying it should at least be studied.

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