US Politics

Anthony FauciFauci: 100,000 new Covid deaths in US ‘predictable but preventable’
Dozens of states reported rapidly increasing fatalities
Resistance in some states to public health mandates
Florida radio host who called himself ‘Mr Anti-Vax’ dies of Covid
Richard Luscombe@ More

House of RepresentativesCongressmen criticized over Kabul visit say they were ‘uniquely situated’ for tripThe two congressmen defend ‘fact-finding’ mission after being criticized for taking up resources and space needed for evacuees

Biden meets remains of 13 troops killed in Kabul
Richard Luscombe@ More

OpinionUS newsThe media is lambasting Biden over Afghanistan. He should stand firmBhaskar SunkaraThe president was right to withdraw the US from Afghanistan – and he’s being skewered for it

I served with Nato in Afghanistan – it was a bloated mess
Sun 29 Aug 2021 08.11 EDTLast modified on Sun 29 Aug 2021 08.12 EDTWhen Joe Biden, a conventional politician if there ever was one, said he was concluding the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan this month, in line with plans set in motion by the Trump administration, the response from the mainstream press was hostile. Following the Taliban takeover of the country, the tenor has only grown more hyperbolic.Joe Biden says new Kabul terror attack highly likely in next 24 to 36 hoursRead moreDuring the Trump years, publications like the New York Times and Washington Post presented themselves as the last defenses of freedom against creeping authoritarianism. The latter adopted a new slogan, “Democracy dies in darkness”, and spent millions on a Super Bowl ad featuring Tom Hanks extolling the importance of journalism as a profession.But for all this talk of “defending freedom”, the mainstream media has a history of reflexively defending militarism, foreign interventions and occupations. Biden – who dared fulfil a campaign promise and end America’s longest war – is learning this the hard way.As Eric Levitz recounts in New York Magazine, the media has created a public backlash against Biden, with outlets like the Times calling the withdrawal a humiliating fiasco. For the New York Times Editorial Board, the two-decade occupation of Afghanistan is described as a “nation-building project” that reflected “the enduring American faith in the values of freedom and democracy”.Key to the media narrative is the echoing of “experts” on Afghanistan like former ambassador Ryan C Crocker, who wishes in another Times op-ed that instead of bolting after a couple of decades, US troops might have remained in Afghanistan for more than a half-century, as we’ve done on the Korean peninsula. Crocker regrets that “Mr Biden’s decision to withdraw all US forces destroyed an affordable status quo that could have lasted indefinitely at a minimum cost in blood and treasure”.But as the writer Jeet Heer points out, the status quo was far from “affordable” for ordinary Afghans. The tragic figure of more than 2,000 dead US troops pales in comparison to the more than 200,000 Afghans killed since 2001. Indeed, prolonged civil war has put this year on pace to be the bloodiest for civilians as a failed US client state has overseen plummeting social indicators, widespread corruption and a total breakdown in public safety.The media had ignored the mounting chaos for years, only to laser-focus on it as a means to criticize Biden. They’ve ignored their own role in cheerleading a misguided “War on Terror” and pinned the blame for two decades of imperial hubris on the president who finally made good on promises to leave the country against the wishes of even some in his own party.What’s underlying much of the approach is a mainstream media fidelity to “expert” consensus. Many who presented themselves as fierce truth-tellers in the face of Trump hold the opinions of former intelligence and military officials in higher regard than that of a president democratically elected by 81.3 million people and pursuing a policy supported by 70% of Americans.Not only are corporate media pundits and talking heads wrong to advocate staying in Afghanistan, they’ve been wrong about generations of conflicts that ordinary people have opposed. Contrary to the popular imagination, opposition to wars from Vietnam to Iraq were spearheaded by workers, not the rich and the professional classes that serve them. It’s this general aversion to costly overseas conflict that the president should confidently embrace.Biden has never been a very good populist. For all his “Amtrak Joe” pretenses, he’s a creature of the Beltway, the ultimate establishment politician. It’s no surprise that his administration appears paralyzed in the face of criticism from its erstwhile elite allies. But unless he manages to push back against the narratives mounting against his administration, he’ll risk undermining his popular domestic agenda as well.Joe Biden did something good – and the media want to kill him for it. He should embrace their scorn and defend his actions to the American people.
Bhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor of Jacobin magazine and a Guardian US columnist. He is the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality
TopicsUS newsOpinionJoe BidenBiden administrationUS politicsUS press and publishingNew York TimesWashington PostcommentReuse this content More

Joe BidenRepublicans scent blood as Biden assailed over Afghanistan pullout The chaotic evacuation has dented the president’s image of empathy and competence but political attacks may have limited shelf lifeDavid Smith in Washington@ More

OpinionUS educationRepublicans threaten our children’s freedom as well as their basic safetyRobert ReichAttacks on mask mandates expose children to Covid. Attacks on the teaching of history expose them to dangerous ignorance Sun 29 Aug 2021 01.00 EDTLast modified on Sun 29 Aug 2021 01.01 EDTMy granddaughter will go to school next week. So may your child or grandchild. For many, it will be their first time back in classrooms in a year and a half.On Covid and climate we can achieve change – but we’re running out of time | Robert ReichRead moreWhat do we want for these young people? At least three things.First and most obviously, to learn the verbal, mathematical and other thinking tools they’ll need to successfully navigate the world.But that’s not all. We also want them to become responsible citizens. This means, among other things, becoming aware of the noble aspects of our history as well as the shameful aspects, so they grow into adults who can intelligently participate in our democracy.Yet some Republican lawmakers don’t want our children to have the whole picture.Over the last few months, some 26 states have curbed how teachers discuss America’s racist past. Some of these restrictions impose penalties on teachers and administrators who violate them, including the loss of licenses and fines. Many curbs take effect next week.These legislators prefer that our children learn only the sanitized, vanilla version of America, as if ignorance will make them better citizens.Why should learning the truth be a politically partisan issue?The third thing we want for our children and grandchildren heading back to school is even more basic. We want them to be safe.Yet even as the number of American children hospitalized with Covid-19 has hit a record high, some Republican lawmakers don’t want them to wear masks in school to protect themselves and others.The governors of Texas and Florida, where Covid is surging, have sought to prohibit school districts from requiring masks. Lawmakers in Kentucky, also experiencing a surge, have repudiated a statewide school mask mandate.Why should the simple precaution of wearing a mask be a politically partisan issue?Paradoxically, many of these same Republican lawmakers want people to have easy access to guns, even though school shootings have become tragically predictable.Between last March and the end of the school year in June – despite most elementary, middle and high schools being partially or entirely closed due to the pandemic – there were 14 school shootings, the highest total over that period since at least 1999.Since the massacre 22 years ago at Columbine high school near Denver, more than a quarter of a million children have been exposed to gun violence during school hours.How can lawmakers justify preventing children from masking up against Covid while allowing almost anyone to buy a gun?The answer to all of this, I think, is a warped sense of the meaning of freedom.These lawmakers – and many of the people they represent – equate “freedom” with being allowed to go without a mask and to own a gun, while also being ignorant of the shameful aspects of America.To them, personal freedom means taking no responsibility.While Delta spreads, Republicans deflect and resort to Trump demagoguery | Robert ReichRead moreYet this definition of freedom is precisely the opposite lesson our children and grandchildren need. To be truly free is to learn to be responsible for knowing the truth even if it’s sometimes painful, and responsible for the health and safety of others even if it’s sometimes inconvenient.The duty to help our children become responsible adults falls mainly on us as parents and grandparents. But our children also need schools that teach and practice the same lessons.America’s children shouldn’t be held hostage to a partisan political brawl. It’s time we focused solely on their learning and their safety.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist
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US voting rightsWashington voting rights march marks Martin Luther King anniversaryNearly 60 years after the I Have a Dream speech, crowds came to the capital again to protest attacks on minority rights Ankita Rao in WashingtonSat 28 Aug 2021 16.25 EDTLast modified on Sat 28 Aug 2021 16.31 EDTTheodore Dean marched in Washington DC in 1963, somewhere in the crowd behind Martin Luther King Jr. Exactly 58 years later, he decided to drive 16 hours from Alabama to do it again.Will America’s latest redistricting cycle be even worse than the last? Read more“I’m here because I’ve got grandchildren and children,” the 84-year-old told the Guardian as he and his son made their way past the White House.Dean joined thousands for March On for Voting Rights, an event organized by a coalition of civil rights groups and nonprofits. Speakers included Rev Al Sharpton and Cori Bush, a Democratic congresswoman from Missouri.The US Senate will soon vote on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a measure passed by the House which would restore protections from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 at a time when minority voters are the target of concerted Republican efforts to restrict access and participation. Furthermore, lawmakers across the US are set to redraw electoral districts, a process open to partisan abuse.In Washington on Saturday, however, it was clear that voting rights was not the only issue on people’s minds. While some marchers carried posters supporting the end of the filibuster and gerrymandering, weapons wielded to great effect by Republicans in state and federal government, others chanted about police violence toward Black people, worker’s rights, the Afghanistan withdrawal and minimum wage.In many ways, the spectrum of issues reflected Dr King’s agenda 58 years ago, when on 28 August 1963 he told a crowd at the Lincoln Memorial: “I have a dream.”“The original march on Washington was not just about Black people and voting rights – it was for jobs and justice,” said Rev William Barber II, a prominent activist and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, after his own speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, at a “Make Good Trouble Rally”.“It was about brutality, poverty, voting rights. There was unfinished business.”Barber said the US was facing issues that had little to do with Donald Trump, the Republican president beaten by Joe Biden but still an active force in national politics from the far right.“In some ways Trump not being president is forcing the movement to have to understand this was never about a person,” Barber said. “All Americans should be worried, concerned, mad and dissatisfied. We may be a civil oligarchy and not a democracy, and the next step is autocracy.”Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign have held marches and rallies across the US, particularly in states like Texas, where lawmakers passed a sweeping elections bill this week that would curb access to voting, and West Virginia, where both cities and rural areas are seeing high rates of poverty and joblessness.West Virginia is home to Senator Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat who along with Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has refused to end the filibuster, a procedural rule Republicans have used to block key voting rights legislation.“It doesn’t have to be this way,” said Rev Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, adding that a summer of action had given her hope. While the coronavirus pandemic further exposed deep economic disparities, she said, it also gave rise to temporary legislative solutions, such as an eviction moratorium and stimulus checks.“We can take our experience here and make it work for everybody,” she said.On Saturday, thousands braving 93F (34C) heat were holding on to optimism too.“Our ancestors did these walks and talk so this is something I’m supposed to do,” said Najee Farwell, a student at Bowie State University in Maryland who rode a bus to the march with fellow students.“I feel as though if I don’t stand up, who else is going to?”TopicsUS voting rightsUS politicsCivil rights movementMartin Luther KingRaceUS CongressProtestnewsReuse this content More

The ObserverJoe Biden‘Biden’s worst nightmare’: how Afghanistan shook a president A rapid Taliban takeover, a chaotic evacuation and a deadly terror attack have shaken confidence in the commander-in-chief and US leadershipDavid Smith in Washington@ More

The Week in PatriarchyCaliforniaThink California’s recall election doesn’t affect you? It really does, I’m afraidArwa MahdawiThe election is a depressing reminder that Republicans are incredibly good at finding sneaky ways to get into power and hold on to it Sat 28 Aug 2021 08.00 EDTLast modified on Sat 28 Aug 2021 10.10 EDTWhy everyone should be paying attention to the recall election in CaliforniaThe wine bill alone apparently came to $12,000. Last November, when California was under a partial lockdown, Gavin Newsom was caught breaking his own rules and celebrating a lobbyist friend’s birthday at the French Laundry, an uber-expensive Michelin-starred restaurant. The Democratic governor’s night at the French Laundry didn’t just stain his reputation, it may have ended his political career. Nobody likes a hypocrite and anger over Newsom’s fancy night out helped fuel Republican-led efforts to oust him. A special gubernatorial recall election is currently under way and there’s a very real chance that, in a couple of weeks, Newsom might lose his job to Larry Elder, a rightwing radio host with some terrifying views and a long history of misogynistic comments.California is a deeply blue state where Democrats outnumber Republicans almost two to one. How on earth is it possible that Newsom, who is still very popular, might get replaced by a Republican? Because of the weird way that California’s gubernatorial recall elections work, basically. Voters are asked two questions. The first is whether they want to recall Newsom or not. If a majority say yes, then he’s out. The candidate that gets the most votes on the replacement ballot is in. It’s a democratic process with the potential for a very undemocratic result.Perhaps you don’t live in California or the United States. Perhaps you think none of this really affects you. It does, I’m afraid. It really does. California is the fifth-largest economy in the world: the person running it matters immensely. While a replacement governor would serve for just over a year (Newsom’s term ends in January 2023), that’s still enough time for someone to do a lot of damage.There’s also a “doomsday scenario” that is weighing at the back of some Democrats’ minds. The Senate is currently split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats; Kamala Harris gets the tie-breaking vote. One of California’s senators is Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who is 88 years old. (The average life expectancy in the US for women, by the way, is 81 years old.) If she needed to step down for health reasons before the end of her term, the governor of California would appoint her replacement. And if a Republican gets appointed then the Senate would be back under GOP control. That’s not inevitable, by the way. If Newsom loses, Feinstein has the opportunity to step aside before the new governor is sworn in – however she has said she has no intention of doing that. Can’t put the greater good ahead of your career, you know! And while the odds of this doomsday scenario happening are slim, recent years should have taught us that we ought to be prepared for anything.I’ve got a feeling that, in the end, Newsom will probably cling on to power. But that’s not really something to celebrate either. This recall election is going to end up costing $276m. That may only be five bottles of wine at the French Laundry for the likes of Newsom; but for normal people, it’s a colossal waste of money that is desperately needed for other things. The election is also a depressing reminder that the Republicans are incredibly good at finding sneaky ways to get into power and hold on to it. The power-grab in California is just a small taste of things to come.A dystopian Texas abortion law takes effect in SeptemberThe law bans abortion at six weeks of pregnancy with no exception for rape or incest. It also allows private citizens to sue anyone who helps a person get an abortion. In theory that means if you drive your friend to an abortion clinic a Conservative Karen could sue you. It’s possible you could even get sued for donating money to Planned Parenthood of Texas. It’s chilling.No one knows how many Indigenous women are murdered each yearThat’s for a number of reasons including the fact that violence against Indigenous women is often underreported and police reports frequently misclassify Native American women as white or Hispanic. The lack of data means the magnitude of the problem hasn’t been fully grasped by policymakers, and the issue hasn’t had the funding and attention it deserves. NBC reports on the Indigenous women who are refusing to let their “people die in silence” and demanding a reshape of the criminal justice system.The Afghan girls’ robotics team has a white savior problemAn Oklahoma woman called Allyson Reneau has been very loudly and proudly taking credit for evacuating members of the all-girls robotics team out of Afghanistan. However, a lawyer for the team’s parent organisation says Reneau has overstated her role and is putting the girls and their families at risk. A spokesman for the Qatari foreign ministry, which helped evacuate the robotics team members, accused the US media of making Reneau a “white savior”.Gavin Rossdale, whose ex-wife is the singer Gwen Stefani, has a new girlfriend called Gwen SingerThere are probably only about five people in the world who care about Rossdale’s dating life. However, since I spent my tweens assuming I was going to one day be Mrs Rossdale (I had a shrine to Gavin on my wall), I feel obliged to report this important name news. Clearly I should have changed my name to ArwaGwen to be in with a chance.Black female chefs are challenging the ‘bro culture’ of cooking showsA taste of progress?Is time up for Time’s Up?The chief executive of the sexual harassment victims’ advocacy group Time’s Up has resigned after it was revealed that she advised Andrew Cuomo after he was accused of sexual misconduct.Some female hummingbirds avoid sexual harassment by masquerading as menAbout 20% of female white-necked jacobins have bright feathers, just like their male counterparts. This stops them from getting socially harassed, a new study has found.The week in paw-triarchyI apologize for being a little late to report this monkey business, but it appears that a nine-year-old female called Yakei has become the new leader of a troop of Japanese macaque monkeys at a nature reserve on the island of Kyushu. Her path to power involved beating up her own mother and then having it out with a 31-year-old alpha male called Sanchu. She’s the first female monkey boss in the nature reserve’s 70-year-history. All hail Queen Yakei.Arwa Mahdawi’s new book, Strong Female Lead, is available for pre-order.TopicsCaliforniaThe Week in PatriarchyUS politicsGavin NewsomcommentReuse this content More