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Biden’s 5 Mistruths on Afghanistan – Maybe the rapid advance of the Taliban surprised a White House who wanted to believe otherwise, but the potential that the Taliban could quickly retake Afghanistan was a commonly shared belief among the intelligence community and the Pentagon. Intelligence agencies began to warn of a potential Taliban takeover soon after Biden’s decision to conduct a total withdrawal in April. Military leaders knew that once US support was removed, including the vital contactor support that kept the Afghan air force in the air, there was a strong potential of collapse. Heritage expert: Tom Spoehr

The steep cost of mishandling our withdrawal from Afghanistan – The president whom the mainstream media heralded as the return of the “Washington professional” — the one who would restore America’s standing abroad — is presiding over the most precipitous decline in American power and prestige in our history. It took Biden fewer than seven months to accomplish what Jimmy Carter couldn’t do in four years: make America an object of derision. A few weeks ago, the president said that his decision to order a total withdrawal from Afghanistan would be “not at all comparable” to the end in Vietnam. In a way, he’s right. It’s worse. Heritage expert: Sec. Robert Wilkie

Call Afghanistan what it is: The worst hostage crisis in American history – Those who believe in the Tooth Fairy are saying this is a “new” Taliban that is less radical than the “old” Taliban. Everyone hoped the Iranian Revolution would be moderate, until the radicals ensured it wouldn’t be. Overnight, the U.S. embassy went from being a safe place to a prison. Perhaps the Taliban are being bribed to keep the airport open. Maybe they are playing this out for propaganda value. Maybe it’s their insurance card: the longer the Taliban can obstruct evacuation, the more time they have to consolidate power. Maybe it’s all three. We don’t know what ransom is being extracted. We do know this: Biden, America, and tens of thousands of desperate people still in the Afghanistan cauldron who are owed safe passage out are their hostages. Heritage expert: Jim Carafano

HR 4 Is Another Attempt By The Left To Make Our Elections Vulnerable To Fraud – It is easier to register and vote today than at any other time in America’s history. The permanent, nationwide provisions of the Voting Rights Act, such as Section 2 and Section 3, are more than adequate to protect voting rights in those rare instances where discrimination does occur. There is no need to bring back the preclearance provisions of Section 5 or to implement a new, vastly expanded Section 5. There is no longer any justification for giving the federal government the ability to veto the election laws and regulations that citizens and their elected representatives choose to implement in their respective states. H.R. 4 is a federal power grab designed to thwart election reform and manipulate state redistricting decisions. Heritage experts: Hans von Spakovsky and Zack Smith

FDA grants full approval to Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine – The FDA’s approval was based on safety and efficacy data from the original clinical trials that supported the EUA and new data from following 12,000 of the original clinical trial participants after the agency issued its EUA. The FDA also analyzed post-authorization safety data involving (the more frequently reported) incidents of myocarditis and pericarditis, and included that in the product labeling. Further FDA updates can be expected as additional investigational studies and clinical trials are completed and new data is available. This ongoing data assessment is critical. The best way to motivate patients to take the vaccine is to provide good data so they and their doctors and trusted sources can make decisions. Data analysis is important for informing clinicians administering the vaccine and treating patients, and for reassuring patients and the public that the agency is being vigilant in monitoring the vaccine’s safety and assessing it’s longer-term efficacy and risks. Heritage expert: Ed Haislmaier

Critical Race Theory Promotes Discrimination – The challenge for parents, teachers, and policymakers, and what has attracted the attention of state policymakers, is that critical race theory is racially discriminatory. Students have been divided into groups according to skin color for certain school activities. Children are told that oppressors can be determined by the color of their skin before even considering someone’s actions. Perhaps worst of all, critical race theory argues that the American dream is not available to everyone—America is systemically oppressive, individual effort and determination be damned. Educators should guide students as they wrestle with ideas, even ideas with which they disagree, yet no one should be compelled to affirm that they are owed something before they can hope to succeed. No one should be compelled to believe or defend racial prejudice. While progressives decide how to explain away critical race theory’s bigotry, parents and policymakers should call the theory what it is—discrimination—and reject it. We can get that settled before kids go back to school. Heritage expert: Jonathan Butcher

China Wants You to Be a Woke ‘Anti-Racist’ While It Pursues Ethnic Cleansing - As with all dictatorial, totalitarian regimes, the truth in this case means absolutely nothing. Life under the Chinese regime means always living by lies. It wants us to live by those lies, too, or else. If we can assume that the Chinese Communist Party puts out propaganda videos to promote the good of the party, then it’s noteworthy it enforces ethnic and cultural unity in its own country at the end of a gun, while enthusiastically promoting wokeness and racial division in America using the language of the modern left. Maybe this should make us think about how China fears genuine American strength, which comes through patriotic assimilation, unity, and the concept of e pluribus unum. That certainly won’t come at the end of a gun in this country. It comes through reinvigorating ideas that Americans most fully embraced not long ago. That is the legacy of 1776 and the generation of Americans who came before us who made this country great. China would clearly be happy to see that never return. Heritage expert: Jarrett Stepman

A Court Victory in Texas Against Obamacare’s Transgender Mandate – Policy should concern itself with the well-being of patients and providers. And a basic moral principle is at stake for health care providers: their central duty to do no harm. Our society long has recognized that medical care involves two parties—the patient and the doctor. Patients should be free to seek treatment, and doctors should be free to exercise their judgment about the right treatment for patients. The transgender mandate violates this principle. Using it, the state may force doctors to offer treatment they oppose. Many doctors, for instance, reasonably believe that to remove healthy organs, or to give young people puberty-blocking drugs, would harm their patients—whatever the subjective wishes of the patient. Healthy organs are not deadly tumors, and puberty is not a disease. O’Connor’s ruling protects such medical judgment, whether it’s based on scientific evidence, religious conviction, or plain common sense. Heritage experts: Jay Richards and Sarah Perry

American Express wages a woke war on itself – The problem with putting "social justice" above profits is that it would quickly cause AmEx to go out of business. The only customers left would be those that cost the company money. Ultimately, not caring about your bottom line means not caring about your existence or the ultimate welfare of your employees or the customers and businesses you serve. Proponents of critical race theory and "anti-racism" claim their teachings will create a more "just" society, but how does manufactured oppression, by tearing down facets of society that contain unequal outcomes, leave anyone better off? This is where many racial justice advocates have failed to see past the immediate consequences of their calls to action. The good news is that the free market isn’t a fan of discrimination, so if companies such as AmEx choose to pursue discriminatory practices, other companies come out ahead. Heritage expert: Rachel Greszler