POLITICO Playbook: Could McCarthy face a Cheney backlash?  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  We're T minus one day till LIZ CHENEY gets the boot from GOP leadership.  And as we enter that crazy news cycle, it's important to remember that this is about one man's ambitions.

Kathryn Garcia for Mayor  —  The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values.  It is separate from the newsroom.  —  The mix of optimism and anxiety that New Yorkers feel as the coronavirus is beaten …

Got the vaccine?  You can relax about your Covid-19 risk now.  Really.  —  I asked experts about their post-vaccination lives.  Most no longer worry about their own risk of Covid-19.  —  White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said he will not go into restaurants or movie theaters, even though he's vaccinated.

The Real Steal Is Coming  —  Who will prevent the next attempt to overturn the will of the voters?  —  War is peace.  —  Freedom is slavery.  —  Ignorance is strength.  —George Orwell, 1984  —  Welcome to the funhouse world the Republican party is building.  Up is down.  Black is white.

Federal investigators press for cooperation from two key witnesses in Gaetz probe  —  Washington (CNN)Federal investigators scrutinizing Rep. Matt Gaetz are seeking the cooperation of a former Capitol Hill intern who was once a girlfriend of the Florida Republican, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

Rahm Emanuel to be appointed US ambassador to Japan  —  Former Chicago mayor will boost Washington's alliance with Tokyo as China's influence grows  —  Joe Biden has chosen Rahm Emanuel, a former congressman and Chicago mayor, to be US ambassador to Japan, according to eight people familiar …

Leonardo DiCaprio unrecognizable in first photos of new Scorsese film  —  Apple has released the first-ever photos from Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated Western, “Killers of the Flower Moon.”  —  The pics depict Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone as Ernest and Mollie Burkhart …

A Misleading C.D.C. Number  —  We have a special edition of the newsletter on a misleading C.D.C. statistic.  —  When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines last month for mask wearing, it announced that “less than 10 percent” of Covid-19 transmission was occurring outdoors.

Glenn Youngkin Wins G.O.P. Nomination for Virginia Governor  —  Mr. Youngkin, a wealthy newcomer to politics who walked a line between the Trump base of the G.O.P. and business interests, will look to test Democrats' strength in the blue-leaning state in November.

Grievance, rebellion and burnt bridges: Tracing Josh Hawley's path to the insurrection … LEXINGTON, Mo. — Joshua Hawley was 13 years old, living comfortably as the son of a bank president, when his parents gave him a book about political conservatism for Christmas.  —  Hawley became enamored with the ideology.

Texas's population boom should be a boon to Democrats.  But Republicans are reaping the gains.  —  Redistricting by the Republican-controlled legislature could help flip the House back to the GOP in next year's midterm elections  —  An earlier version of this article misstated the number of congressional districts in Hays County.

Migrant children held in mass shelters with little oversight  —  The Biden administration is holding tens of thousands of asylum-seeking children in an opaque network of some 200 facilities that The Associated Press has learned spans two dozen states and includes five shelters with more than 1,000 children packed inside.

S.F. seniors might go back to school for only one day before term ends.  Parents are furious  —  When the teachers union over the weekend announced the “exciting news” that San Francisco's high school seniors will get a chance to go back to classrooms starting Friday, they left out details about the plan …

The Supreme Court considers an important showdown over abortion this week  —  The Court has been surprisingly hesitant to weigh in on abortion.  But a pending case is likely to force its hand.  —  The Supreme Court has been sitting on a potentially very significant abortion case for the last two months …

Obamacare sign-ups reach 1 million during special enrollment window  —  One million people have signed up for health coverage under an Affordable Care Act special enrollment period announced earlier this year, officials said Tuesday.  —  “That's one million more Americans who now have the peace …

Gov. Reeves Ending Federal Aid for Unemployed Mississippians, Rejecting ‘Rescue Act’ Funds  —  Unemployed Mississippians will no longer be eligible for $300 per week in federal COVID-19 unemployment benefits after Gov. Tate Reeves announced today that Mississippi will opt out next month.

Reporters fume at White House ‘quote approval’ rules  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. … Email us at [email protected].  —  If you've read a quote from an administration official in a newspaper or a wire story recently …

Joe Biden's imperiled economy  —  Joe Biden, having already presided on the worst economic recovery since World War II as Barack Obama's vice president, could oversee one even worse.  But unlike the fundamentally crippled economy Obama inherited, Biden came into office with every economic feature in his favor.

Trump's blog isn't lighting up the internet  —  Four months after former President Donald Trump was banished from most mainstream social media platforms, he returned to the web last Tuesday with “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” essentially a blog for his musings.

Biden's sweeping — and fluid — tax plans are making some congressional Democrats nervous  —  The president is set to meet with congressional leaders this week as he hopes to give his domestic agenda a boost  —  President Biden's desire to offset more than $4 trillion in spending proposals …

Gas outages reported in Big Bend and south Georgia after pipeline shut down  —  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Gas shortages are being reported the Big Bend area and south Georgia after the Colonial Pipeline in Alpharetta shut down.  —  ABC 27 received a report that police are directing traffic …

Democrats' election overhaul is expected to clear a major Senate hurdle, but the road ahead is unclear.  —  A key Senate committee is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday to advance Democrats' sweeping elections overhaul, stamping its approval on a landmark voting rights expansion as Washington tries …

CDC's slow, cautious messaging on Covid-19 seems out of step with the moment, public health experts say  —  WASHINGTON — Nearly a year ago, amid concerns about how to prevent transmission of the virus causing Covid-19, scientists were beginning to conclude that rigorous disinfection of surfaces …

Ted Cruz bets big on Facebook  —  Sen. Ted Cruz isn't up for reelection until 2024.  But the Texas Republican has spent more on Facebook advertising over the past two months than all but one senator, an investment strategy that other lawmakers have used in recent cycles to help set the stage for presidential runs.

Fauci must answer for his role in Wuhan's COVID lab  —  There are details emerging about the Wuhan Institute of Virology that merit further exploration  —  We still don't know the origins of COVID-19, a full year and a half out from the start of the pandemic.

CAN WE PLEASE DITCH THE TERM “SYSTEMIC RACISM”?  —  As a linguist I know we can't, but systemic racial inequities can almost never be undone by “getting rid of the racism.”  —  3 hr ago  —  The Elect are direly committed to teaching us the difference between personal racism and systemic racism.