Whether it’s COVID-19 at home or evacuation from Afghanistan abroad, Republicans have homed in on a consistent strategy: Worse is better.
 

• It was obvious enough before Thursday’s terrorist attack in Kabul that Republicans were all amped up for tragedy to strike—even though the Biden administration warned the public of the threat—so that they could try to turn the evacuation from Afghanistan in to #Benghazi. After the attack, they did all but say “this is great news for us!” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has already told reporters to expect multiple committee investigations of the evacuation if Republicans take the House, no matter what happens between now and the end of the war, or the end of the war and the election. 
   
• Why is he so sure that breathless hearings a year and a half after the hearings Democrats have already promised will be necessary? For that we turn to Kevin McCarthy circa 2015: ​​“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee," McCarthy said. “What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.” It’s a safe bet that’s what he has in mind, because his official critique of Biden’s withdrawal plan is: He should’ve got all the troops out; also he should’ve kept troops at Bagram Air Base indefinitely.
   
• Meanwhile, in non-sociopathic statements, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said military commanders advised President Biden that “another terror attack in Kabul is likely, but that they are taking maximum force protection measures at the Kabul Airport,” and briefed him on plans to counterattack ISIS-K. Their evacuation efforts continued amid the threat and rescued thousands of people in the aftermath of Thursday’s suicide bombing.  

It might be easier for Republicans to convince people their outrage over the casualties in Afghanistan is real if they weren’t trying to get as many Americans as possible infected with a novel disease.
 

• Arizona, where Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) has prohibited mask and vaccine mandates, logged its millionth (1,000,000th) coronavirus case Friday. In Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) has prohibited mask and vaccine mandates, the Department of Public Health is asking people to steer clear of emergency rooms for non-emergencies, because hospitals are so overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.
   
• The only reprieve for residents in these states has come from citizen appeals to the courts. A Florida judge has blocked an order by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) that prohibits mask mandates. But Republicans have generally treated inconveniences like “new opportunities to reduce coronavirus transmission” as invitations to move the goalposts. Earlier this week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) amended his order banning vaccine mandates, which previously applied only to vaccines administered under Emergency Use Authorization to include vaccines that have received full FDA approval, too. 

Even after Republicans attempted to overturn the election, Democrats extended them a generous hand of bipartisanship. Republicans have generally responded with relentless efforts to make things worse, then capitalize politically on the misery they created. It must be hard for a party that wants to turn the temperature down to accuse Republicans of sabotage. But it’s also the truth, and the public deserves to hear it.

Speaking of relentless efforts to make things worse, a GOP-led school district in Wisconsin has opted out of a federally funded program that would provide free meals to all students, regardless of family income, because kids shouldn’t be mollycoddled with addictive luxuries like “food.” The Waukesha School District signed up for the program during the pandemic, but in June the board voted to turn down the funding, making Waukesha the only one of Wisconsin’s 408 eligible districts to opt out of the program. The school district would revert to its pre-pandemic program, under which students have to apply for free or reduced-price lunches. One board member, Karin Rajnicek, said the universal meal program would lead families to “become spoiled.” Darren Clark, an assistant superintendent, said there could be a “slow addiction” to the arrangement. Some 900 parents and teachers have said (paraphrasing) “what the fuck is wrong with you,” banding together to pressure the board to reverse the move.

• The Supreme Court’s conservative majority threw out the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium in an unsigned opinion on Thursday night, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of losing their homes during the Delta surge.
   
• The Pentagon has clarified that there was just one suicide bomber outside the Kabul airport on Thursday, not two. The Afghan death toll has risen to at least 170.
   
• The Texas House is poised to give Republicans’ election-subversion bill final approval on Friday. Once lawmakers in the House and Senate work out a few differences, it’ll head to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) for signing.
   
• The January 6 committee has demanded records from 15 social media companies on the spread of misinformation, efforts to overturn the election, violent extremism, and foreign election interference. Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) set a two-week deadline for the companies to fork it all over.
   
• New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has ordered the evacuation of everyone who lives outside the city’s levee system, with Hurricane Ida on track to hit Louisiana on Sunday.
   
• An attorney for Gov. Kay Ivey (R-AL) has been arrested on a child solicitation charge, and Ivey’s office immediately fired him. (Mechanically; wearily) Wait until QAnon hears about this.
   
• Justice Stephen Breyer, promoting his new book, said he’s still chewing over the decision of when to retire: “I don’t think I’m going to stay there till I die—hope not.” There, are you happy, progressives worried about the prospect of a 7-2 Court? He hopes not.
   
• Today in Radioactive Nazi Cubes: Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are carrying out forensic analysis on three uranium blocks believed to trace back to Werner Heisenberg and the Nazi nuclear program. This has been today's edition of Radioactive Nazi Cubes. 

The time has come for a deep dive into how America’s best and brightest began chugging horse paste. Here’s the short version: Online anti-vaxxers looking for a miracle coronavirus cure have become obsessed with ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug that comes in forms for both livestock and people. It hasn’t been shown to do much of anything against viruses, so most real doctors wouldn’t prescribe it to the fine residents of Facebook, but one telehealth provider reliably would: SpeakWithAnMD.com, which partners with an organization called America’s Frontline Doctors. That group (whose founder stormed the Capitol on January 6) also jump-started the hydroxychloroquine craze last year, when it posted a video that Donald Trump retweeted. Anyway, anti-vax groups quickly overwhelmed the Dr. Trump website with human-ivermectin demand, at which point people took matters into their own hands, heading to feed stores for tubes of horse medicine and giving themselves diarrhea. A magical time to be alive.

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The Biden administration has announced nearly $85 million in funding for children’s mental health awareness, training, and treatment. 

California aims to become the first state to use small incentives to help people who are addicted to drugs stay sober. 

The U.S. administered 1.1 million vaccine shots on Friday, the highest single-day total since July 3.

This week had good moments, too.