A report says that the Taliban have begun rounding up Afghans on a blacklist of people they believe have worked in key roles with the previous Afghan administration or with U.S.-led forces that supported it. Read More at Reuters
PG&E, Gavin Newsom, and the French Laundry Connection
A plate of dinner at Napa County’s award-winning French Laundry restaurant starts at $350, but dining there during the pandemic cost Gov. Gavin Newsom quite a bit more than that. Read More at ABC10
Internal State Department Cable Warned of Kabul Collapse
An internal State Department memo last month warned top agency officials of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the U.S.’s troop withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan; the clearest evidence yet that the administration had been warned by its own officials on the ground that the Taliban’s advance was imminent. Read More...
3 Key Takeaways from Inside California Politics Governor Recall Debate
Thursday's relatively tame California gubernatorial debate is in the books and the three Republican candidates who participated emerged largely unscathed with the state’s recall election looming. Read More at KRON TV
The Fiasco in Afghanistan is a Grave Blow to America’s Standing
If the propagandists of the Taliban had scripted the collapse of America’s 20-year mission to reshape Afghanistan, they could not have come up with more harrowing images. Desperate Afghans, terrified about what the victorious zealots might do, chased departing American cargo planes down the runway, trying to clamber into the...
Latest Polls on the California Recall Election
Latest polls from an updating average of the 2021 California gubernatorial recall shows if voters will decide whether to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom and — if removed — whom to replace him with. Read More at FiveThirtyEight
South Valley Communities on Verge of Running Out of Water Press Newsom to Halt 18% Rate Hike
In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, state water users in the old Tulare Lake bed – including water agencies that serve some of the state’s poorest communities – called for the Department of Water Resources to halt its planned hike on water rates. Read More at The Sun
Snapshot of Suffering: Afghans Trying to Reach Airport Are Penned Up, Beaten by Taliban
At a traffic circle just outside the Kabul airport, amped-up Taliban fighters corralled hundreds of unarmed Afghans; many fired automatic weapons indiscriminately into the air, and sometimes aimed them at the assembled men, women and children. Read More at Los Angeles Times
The Resistance to the Taliban Begins Now. But We Need Help.
Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, says mujahideen fighters are prepared to once again take on the Taliban. But his fighters need more weapons, more ammunition and more supplies, he says. "The United States and its allies have left the battlefield, but America can still...
As Wells Dry Up, Valley’s Small Farms Seek Emergency Relief
The cost of drilling a new well isn’t economically feasible for many of the small farmers in the Central Valley being hammered by the state's historic drought. “You’re asking folks to come up with $30,000 or $40,000. That’s maybe what they’re making in a year,” said Blong Xiong, executive director...