Pfizer to ask FDA to authorize booster dose of COVID vaccine as Delta variant spreads  —  Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) plans to ask U.S. regulators to authorize a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine within the next month, the drugmaker's top scientist said on Thursday, based on evidence of greater risk …

The rapid decline of White evangelical America?  —  New data suggests a bigger decrease than previously understood — including in the GOP.  —  If there was an epitome of Donald Trump's hostile and often puzzling takeover of the Republican Party, it might have been his alliance with evangelical Christians.

Toyota to stop donating to GOP lawmakers who objected to certifying Biden's win  —  Toyota announced Thursday that its political action committee would no longer make donations to Republican members of Congress who objected to certifying the presidential election results in January …

Two South Florida men were involved in President Moïse's assassination, investigators say  —  Two South Florida men have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse, the Miami Herald has learned.  —  James Solages, of Fort Lauderdale …

Tom Cotton's slimy attack on a ‘critical race theory’ professor is full of holes  —  Sen. Tom Cotton is calling for the firing of a U.S. Air Force Academy professor after she admitted to discussing critical race theory with cadets.  But even a cursory look at the Arkansas Republican's slimy argument shows …

Disgraced Trump foe Michael Avenatti weeps as he is sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for Nike extortion scheme  — Michael Avenatti, the brash attorney who became a leading foe of then-President Donald Trump, was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in prison for a brazen botched scheme …

Five undervaccinated clusters put the entire United States at risk  —  (CNN)A new data analysis identifies clusters of unvaccinated people, most of them in the southern United States, that are vulnerable to surges in Covid-19 cases and could become breeding grounds for even more deadly Covid-19 variants.

‘Financially Hobbled for Life’: The Elite Master's Degrees That Don't Pay Off  —  Columbia and other top universities push master's programs that fail to generate enough income for graduates to keep up with six-figure federal loans  —  Recent film program graduates of Columbia University …

The Supreme Court's Latest Voting Rights Opinion Is Even Worse Than It Seems  —  It's been almost a week since the Supreme Court issued its most significant ruling on voting rights in nearly a decade, and each time I read Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, the angrier I become.

An ugly new right-wing attack poses a test for populists like J.D. Vance  —  J.D. Vance, who is running for Senate in Ohio, is packaging himself as a second-generation Trumpist candidate, a conservative populist alternative to traditional plutocratic Republicanism.  It's a seductive pitch.

Inside Donald Trump's Last Days in the White House and Plans for a Comeback  —  The president's effort to overturn the election alienated much of his inner circle—but solidified his dominance of the GOP.  Now he's planning his return.  —  On the morning of Nov. 7, 2020 …

Why I'm Suing Big Tech  —  If Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can censor me, they can censor you—and believe me, they are.  —  One of the gravest threats to our democracy today is a powerful group of Big Tech corporations that have teamed up with government to censor the free speech of the American people.

Deal of the art: White House grapples with ethics of Hunter Biden's pricey paintings  —  White House officials have helped craft an agreement under which purchases of Hunter Biden's artwork — which could be listed at prices as high as $500,000 — will be kept confidential from even the artist himself …

Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg's Partnership Did Not Survive Trump  —  The company they built is wildly successful.  But her Washington wisdom didn't hold up, and neither did their close working relationship.  —  Sheryl Sandberg knew she'd be asked about the attacks on the Capitol.

Rudy Giuliani's Legal Fund Was a Bust.  Now, Its Donation Page Has Disappeared.  —  The Fundly account raised $9,798 before the page disappeared—far short from its goal of raising $5 million in two months.  —  After raising a paltry sum of money from supporters and attracting little interest …

Two Seattle officers trespassed on U.S. Capitol grounds during riot and should be fired, investigation finds  —  Two of the six off-duty Seattle police officers who attended a pro-Trump rally that led to the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol in January trespassed onto restricted grounds and stood …

I've Always Suspected “Cat Person” Was Based on My Life.  Now I Know It Was.
  —  Kristen Roupenian's viral story draws specific details from my own life.  I've spent the years since it published wondering: How did she know?  —  One night in December of 2017, I saw Call Me by Your Name …

Live free and die: Inside the bizarre political philosophy of America's unvaccinated  —  A couple of weeks ago, I drove two hours north to the hillside town of Olyphant, Pa., just outside Scranton, to meet with a Donald Trump superfan for a book project I've been working on.

Texas Republicans Reveal Bills of Far-Reaching Voting Restrictions  —  In their second attempt to pass a sweeping elections overhaul, Republican lawmakers followed the broad outlines of the first, including a wide range of measures to limit voting access.  —  Republicans in the Texas Legislature …

Gettr by the Pu$$y  —  [Note: This article includes sexually explicit language and a gross screenshot from Gettr users.]  —  Ahhh, internet forum moderation policy debates.  —  Right-wing politicians and pundits will have you believe that their victimization at the hands of overzealous online censors …

Michigan AG, police to probe false election fraud claims after GOP report  —  LANSING—Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and state police will investigate allegations that unnamed individuals are making false claims about the 2020 election for personal profit, as requested by the Republican-led Senate Oversight Committee.

“These Bastards Will Never See Our Tears”: How Yulia Navalnaya Became Russia's Real First Lady  —  When the Kremlin tried to kill Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, his wife launched an epic battle to save his life—and became the face of the resistance to Vladimir Putin.

How May Edwards became the forgotten whistleblower  —  By the time Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards stood before Judge Gregory Woods in a courtroom in Lower Manhattan last month, she had lost her job, her car, her home and had spent nearly three years on supervised release, awaiting a likely prison sentence.

Lincoln Project's Steve Schmidt: Capitol riot worse than 9/11 attacks, ‘likely to kill a lot more Americans’  —  ‘The 1/6 attack for the future of the country was a profoundly more dangerous event than the 9/11 attacks.’  —  Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt agreed …

Biden puts faith behind Afghan troops while defending U.S. withdrawal  —  President Joe Biden on Thursday issued a forceful defense of his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan and denied it was inevitable that the Taliban would eventually topple the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.

“There's Going to Be a Blowup”: Trump and DeSantis Are on a Collision Course  —  In public it's all smiles, but behind the scenes, Republicans are already preparing themselves for a showdown between former president Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.