Favorite Rejects 2021-08-31

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

The basic issue Biden's critics are dodging on Afghanistan is that the Taliban was steadily gaining ground in Obama's second term and Trump's first three years *before* the withdrawal agreement was signed. What was the plan to turn that around?

Nate Silver @NateSilver538

In any event, the goal is to prevent severe outcomes and death. Out of 15,000 people tested in the 98% vaccinated Duke community, there are NO cases severe enough to wind up in the hospital. Yet they're imposing substantial new burdens on students. *This* is losing the plot.

Matthew Zeitlin @MattZeitlin

nytimes.com/2021/08/31/opi…

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I am committing to Taliban-free opioid use in my household — stick to fentanyl.

Sam Raskin @samraskinz

I hereby declare *never* to use any Taliban-produced products, a significant but necessary sacrifice, and won’t attend any panel discussions featuring Abdul Ghani Baradar. https://t.co/ULPatViVgx

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Really underappreciated that mainstream Democrats (that's the Hamilton Project launch) very sincerely but incorrectly believed George W Bush had set the country on track for a budget crisis. @adam_tooze's book covers the impact of this well but it tends to get missed.

Michael Andersen @andersem

Each of these charts knock my socks off, both individually and in combination https://t.co/hvlx7mCozd https://t.co/R1NFbwjEED

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Something you see whenever humanitarian rationales for military action are on the table is that US national security hotshots seem to have no idea how cheap global public health interventions with high odds of success are.

Musa al-Gharbi @Musa_alGharbi

I didn't love Biden as a candidate. But even if he accomplishes nothing else in his administration than ending this war, I'll be grateful he ended up in office. It was a call that obviously needed to be made, but that no one else apparently had the fortitude and honesty to do.