Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: The NYT on a homeless program that’s actually working, and why it won’t be coming to a city near you. Something Better Than a Tent for the Homeless. “The biggest obstacle to scaling such initiatives is politics. ‌Even though violent crime has risen across the ‌United States — and the homicide rate increased more in red states than blue — Republicans are using dramatic images of homelessness in cities like Seattle and San Francisco to claim that progressive approaches have failed. (Houston, in fact, has already housed more than 25,000 of its homeless people since 2011 using harm-reduction housing like JustCare does.) Democrats, on the defensive, pour more money into policing.” (We’re not about solving problems. We’re about winning elections. Until those two things overlap, we’re screwed.)

+ This is Terrible: “The small contingent of U.S. troops, linked arm-in-arm at times, attempted to hold back the masses. But the determined civilians broke through, with some boarding parked C-17 cargo planes without permission, and others climbing onto the outside of aircraft before takeoff only to fall to their death moments later. ‘That’s how desperate they were to get out of there,’ said Army 1st Lt. Timothy Williams. ‘It was one of those defining moments, I think, for everybody where it was just like, ‘Wow, this is terrible.'” Dan Lamothe in WaPo with a very in-depth report on the disastrous pullout from Afghanistan: For U.S. troops who survived Kabul airport disaster, guilt and grief endure.

+ Keeping Up with the Joneses: “What sets Jones Day apart is the degree to which it penetrated the federal government under Trump and is now taking advantage of a judicial revolution that it helped set in motion. The power of that revolution, which is spreading to courtrooms and statehouses around the country, is now on vivid display.” NYT: How a Corporate Law Firm Led a Political Revolution.

+ Monster Mash: Donald Trump doesn’t seem too happy with the Senate Majority Leader. “Mitch McConnell is not an Opposition Leader, he is a pawn for the Democrats to get whatever they want. He is afraid of them, and will not do what has to be done. A new Republican Leader in the Senate should be picked immediately.” (1.Create Monster 2. Fuel Monster 3. Appease Monster 4. Lose Control of Monster 5. Get Eaten By Monster.)

+ Deuces Wild: “When the two sets of siblings met in 2017 at — where else? — the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, they all decided this could be their perfect match. The Deanes and the Salyerses spent a year dating, and when all four were sure they had found their match, they returned to the festival and got married right there, in matching outfits. And if that weren’t enough, the two couples — who now live in a house they share in Bedford County, Va. — went back to the twins festival earlier this month, this time with their sons, born about five months apart.” WaPo: These identical twins married identical twins. Now they have sons.