Linkage

• The Vanishing Legacy of Barack Obama (Matt Taibbi) Released from behind its paywall, this is classic Tiabbi and well worth the read.
• Afghanistan: The End of the Occupation (Anne Bonny Pirate) Says what needs to be said. "First, the Taliban have defeated the United States, second, the Taliban have won because they have more popular support, third, this is not because most Afghans love the Taliban. It is because the American occupation has been unbearably cruel and corrupt."
• In 2006, "Judge Richard Posner visited Second Life to give a lecture on civil liberties in the post-9/11 era in a Greek amphitheater, ended up befriending a furry, and was attacked by a fireball." (Twitter) When people talk to you about VR equivalents to Zoom meetings, note this.
• Whatever Happened to Walt’s Garage Studio? (Cartoon Research) A neat bit of historical detective work and preservation.
• Kids Can Recover From Missing Even Quite A Lot Of School (Astral Codex Ten) There is a lot less loss than one would think, because brain development continues apace.
• White Feminists Wanted to Invade (The Nation) A nice primer on the corruption and hypocrisy of liberal feminists calling for bombs for gender equality in Afghanistan.

John Oliver unloads on the Sackler crime family: