Worth Reading 9-11-2021
JDQB notes these as materials worth reading
Harking back to George Bush’s embarrassingly premature Mission Accomplished ceremony aboard an aircraft carrier after the initial few weeks of the invasion of Iraq, Noah Rothman writes about Joe Biden’s Mission Accomplished moments.
Peggy Noonan has an excellent article from September 2 in the Wall Street Journal (apologies for paywall). The Afghan Fiasco Will Stick to Biden.
The Economist magazine has put together an issue with a number of articles of real depth. Two of these are Henry Kissinger on Why America Failed in Afghanistan and Francis Fukuyama on the end of American hegemony.
The Washington Post published an especially good article by Robert Kagan in late August busting various myths about Afghanistan.
John Podhoretz hosts a podcast on Biden’s claim of victory for partially solving the very hostage crisis he started. God knows what the Taliban are being paid for allowing the occasional plane to take off. https://www.commentary.org/john-podhoretz/solving-the-hostage-crisis-you-started/
Interesting article by Jonathan Turley on the legal question whether the vaccine mandates should apply to those who already have natural immunity and antibodies by virtue of having recovered from the Covid-19 virus. https://jonathanturley.org/2021/09/10/california-medical-ethics-expert-sues-university-over-vaccine-mandate/
Finally, and as something of a precursor to my next article, the hysterical reaction by the media to the Texas abortion legislation is party justified (the vigilante feature is very Stasi-like) but the blame hurled at the Supreme Court is wholly political and not well-founded. Texas Law 101.
WDM recommends these articles:
I am convinced of the safety and efficacy of the COVID vaccines, and I also believe that in this case being vaccinated should be a matter of individual choice. This article, though addressed to catholic moral teaching, gives a broad justification for freedom of choice.
Noah Rothman outdoes himself with a penetrating discussion of the perverse reason given for an emergency OSHA rule to implement Biden’s vaccination order: “to protect the vaccinated workers from unvaccinated coworkers.”
Jonathan Turley again wins the prize for the most ironically amusing article of the week, awarded to this discussion of the unconstitutionality of Biden’s vaccination order and the obliviousness of the White House staff.
On a subject not unrelated to vaccine mandates and executive overreach, this article dissects the mischief caused by the Supreme Court decision ordering the EPA to decide whether greenhouse gases should be regulated as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.