ANALYSIS: TRUE. Yes, Biden blew it. “Biden set an artificial deadline and sleepwalked toward it, igniting a frantic effort in which NATO and non-NATO nations engaged to transit as many of their citizens, residents, and terrified Afghan allies as possible out of the country while Biden contracted with the Taliban to provide perimeter security at the Kabul airport. Over 100,000 people got out, but many more were left behind, including American citizens and permanent residents. Biden congratulated himself. ”

Read the whole thing.

I DARE YOU TO IDENTIFY WHAT HARVARD THINKS IS OFFENSIVE IN THIS NICKI MINAJ POSTER. Seriously, we need to know. Harvard didn’t say.

LIKE CHLOROQUINE AND IVERMECTIN? Some FDA-approved drugs could be repurposed to treat people infected with COVID-19.

NO, BUT BOTH ILLUSTRATE OUR CRONYIST, SELF-DECEIVING, CORRUPT RULING CLASS: Did Theranos Lose Afghanistan?

The San Jose courtroom where Holmes is being tried is a long way from Kabul, where U.S. citizens are still being evacuated following the withdrawal of American forces last month.

But there’s a tighter link than meets the eye. Like the Afghanistan debacle, Theranos is a horror story of wishful thinking, credulous media, and celebrity impunity. Whether or not intentional deception was involved, both episodes display the dishonesty and incompetence of interlocking tech, finance, media, and military elites.

The connection is personal. Among the expected witnesses in the trial is former Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, who fought in Afghanistan as a brigadier general, later oversaw the war as head of Central Command, and finally served as former President Donald Trump’s secretary of defense. Mattis became involved with Theranos while still in uniform. After retiring from the armed forces, Mattis joined Henry Kissinger, George P. Shultz, and other national security eminences on Theranos’ board, lending the company a gravitas that few startups enjoy.

Mattis denies any wrongdoing, claiming he was taken in, too. Even if that’s true, his role is discreditable. Mattis’ association with the company began in 2011, when he met Holmes at a Marine Memorial event in San Francisco. According to author John Carreyrou and other journalists, he immediately began campaigning for military adoption of Theranos’ ostensibly innovative bloodtesting technology. Mattis was not deterred by the lack of FDA approval and mounting doubts about whether the technology actually worked. After his retirement in 2013, Mattis also ignored legal advice that it would be improper to join the board while the company was seeking procurement of its products for use in Afghanistan.

Our “warrior monk” also hasn’t been heard on the Afghanistan debacle, though he was happy to express his displeasure regarding Trump.

Plus:

Finally, the overlap between Theranos and Afghanistan demonstrates both the interlocking character of the American ruling class and the impunity that its members enjoy until their conduct becomes literally criminal. The same people who make decisions in Washington end up sitting on the same boards in Silicon Valley and appearing on the same New York-based cable channels. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not such a big deal that Mattis suffered few consequences for his involvement with Theranos. It’s hugely important, though, that he and other celebrity officers were not only promoted for their roles in losing a two-decade war, but that they continue to be celebrated and richly compensated as authors, management consultants, and national security wisemen.

In his farewell speech as president, Dwight Eisenhower worried about the influence of the “military-industrial complex.” The entanglement continues, as retired officers continue to take lucrative positions with defence contractors. Over the last 70 years, though, “the blob” has extended its tentacles into finance, the media, academia, and beyond.

Consequences are for the little people. And Eisenhower actually did warn about the academic-industrial complex in that speech, too.

HE’S AN INTERNATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT: Taliban Planning to Steal Joe Biden’s 9/11 Anniversary Thunder. “While the White House insists the Taliban is ‘businesslike and professional,’ the Taliban is going about the rough business of re-establishing a hardcore Islamist Emirate atop the rubble of Biden’s bungled bugout.”

WE WERE PROMISED MIRACLES: Experts offer ‘weak’ support for marijuana to treat chronic pain.

WORKPLACE: California passes landmark bill targeting Amazon’s algorithm-driven rules. “Under the bill, warehouses will be required to disclose to government agencies – and to the employees – the quotas and metrics used to track workers. It would ban penalties for ‘time off-task’, which discourage workers from using the bathroom or taking other necessary breaks. It also prohibits retaliation against workers who complain.”

WOOF, WOOF, BIG FELLA: Very Large Telescope captures best images yet of ‘dog-bone’ asteroid.

BIDENFLATION: Producer inflation accelerated in August, as wholesale prices rose record 8.3% from a year ago. “The data comes amid heightened inflation fears fed by supply chain issues, a shortage of various consumer and producer goods and heightened demand related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Federal Reserve officials expect inflationary pressures to ease through the year, but they have remained stubbornly persistent, with Friday’s numbers indicating that the trend likely will continue.”

Previously: Federal Reserve calls inflation ‘transitory’ as it keeps interest rates near zero.

“SCIENCE” IS NOW JUST A POLITICAL SLOGAN: How the Pandemic Is Changing the Norms of Science: Imperatives like skepticism and disinterestedness are being junked to fuel political warfare that has nothing in common with scientific methodology.

#RESIST: Joe Biden Has Mandated a Vaccine for 80 Million Employees. Now Let Him Enforce It.

NOW APPLY THIS TO BLACK LIVES MATTER: California Law Would Define “Harass” to Include Approaching Within 30 Feet to Give Leaflets to Strangers, or to Try to Speak to Them.

CHANGE: Texas Gov. Abbott signs law against tech firms banning users for content. “Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that prohibits large social media companies from banning users over their political opinions, attracting the criticism of free speech activists.”

TOKEN: Wells Fargo hit with new $250 mln fine for failure to pay back wronged customers. If you don’t hold individuals in the company accountable, it doesn’t mean much. $250K each from some key executives means more than $250M from the company.

FREUD CALLED IT DISPLACEMENT:

Or as Jim Treacher writes: Biden Commemorates 9/11 By Getting Tougher on Americans Than on the Taliban. The ol’ divide-and-conquer technique.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the actual Taliban, “We’re in a weird place when we’re officially more concerned about the lack of gender diversity at the top of a terror state than we are about, you know, a terror state.”

(Classical reference in headline.)

FLASHBACK:

PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

Matt Margolis: Joe Biden Makes Me Wish I Hadn’t Take the Vaccine. “I chose to get vaccinated, but I’d never want anyone to get vaccinated against their will—which is essentially what Biden is proposing here. Maybe people will still technically have a choice, but who wants to choose between employment or vaccination? No one should have to be put in that position.”

Paula Bolyard: The Dirty Little Secret About Biden’s Vaccine Mandate That No One Wants to Talk About. “While I’d love to believe that Americans will finally rise up and say ‘enough is enough,’ there’s a problem: Americans want a vaccine mandate. In fact, millions of our fellow citizens have been begging the government to force shots into all our arms.”

Stacey Lennox: Why Does the U.S. Ignore Data on Kids and COVID-19 From Other Nations? “The CDC owes parents the data to make appropriate risk-based decisions for their children before getting them vaccinated.”

Yours Truly: You Say Tornado, I Say Trunalimunumaprzure: Embarrassed Biden Aides Put Boss on ‘Mute.’

BIDEN TO DESECRATE 9/11: Part One and Part Two (remote desecration).

DEMS’ FAVORITE TARGET WHEN THEY AREN’T GOING AFTER THE MIDDLE CLASS: Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Is an Attack on the Working Poor.

FROM MY EXCELLENT COLLEAGUE, VEJAS LIULEVICIUS: Communism in Power: From Stalin to Mao.

HMM: Yale study identifies those at risk of breakthrough COVID-19 infections.

The new study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, looked at around 1,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients admitted to the Yale New Haven Health System between March and July this year. Only 54 of those admissions were fully vaccinated, affirming the strong protection vaccines offer against severe COVID-19.

Of those 54 fully vaccinated patients, around half were completely asymptomatic, having been admitted to hospital for other reasons and their COVID-19 status only being picked up through incidental SARS-CoV-2 testing. Fourteen patients ended up critically ill, requiring oxygen support, and four ended up in intensive care. Three of these patients ultimately died from COVID-19.

The median age of those 14 severely ill COVID-19 patients was 80, and several pre-existing co-morbidities were noted in the study. Twelve of those patients were suffering cardiovascular disease, nine were overweight, seven had diabetes and seven had some kind of pre-existing lung disease.

So the same people as you’d see getting non-breakout infections.

SCIENCE AND POLITICS ARE THE SAME NOW: Changing The Norms Of Science.

ACTUALLY, BIDEN AND BLINKEN AND MILLEY AND AUSTIN ARE THE FACE OF THIS DEBACLE: Brokering exit from Afghanistan, U.S. envoy Khalilzad became face of diplomatic debacle. They’re just trying to make Khalilzad the fall guy.

FLASHBACK: Biden Opposed Vaccine and Mask Mandates Eight Months Ago.