Trump's Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says  —  Chris Miller now says talk of a full withdrawal was a “play” to convince a Taliban-led government to keep U.S. counterterrorism forces.  — AFGHANISTAN - WHITE HOUSE - PENTAGON - TERRORISM

An Alabama doctor watched patients reject the coronavirus vaccine.  Now he's refusing to treat them.  —  In Alabama, where the nation's lowest vaccination rate has helped push the state closer to a record number of hospitalizations, a physician has sent a clear message to his patients …

GOP governors embrace Covid cocktails over masks as cases surge  —  Republican governors in some of the states hardest hit by the pandemic are pushing expensive Covid cocktails over cheap masks.  —  The governors in Florida, Missouri and Texas are promising millions of dollars in antibody treatments …

Herd Immunity Herp Derp  —  The pandemic's wrongest theory.  —  A lot of people, including many experts, made blunders when assessing the best ways to combat the novel coronavirus that emerged from Wuhan in late 2019.  For a while people were sanitizing their grocery bags.  Mask guidance was all over the map.

Facebook wants you to hold your next meeting in VR  —  (CNN Business)For those who don't think Zoom meetings are a good enough substitute for the real thing, Facebook has another idea: a virtual reality app that lets you and your coworkers feel like you're sitting around a table in a conference room.

“A Smile With Sharp Teeth”: Mike Richards's Rise to ‘Jeopardy!’  Host Sparks Questions About His Past  —  The ‘Jeopardy!’ host search is finally over.  New reporting reveals that concerns about Richards and the show's selection process remain.  —  One day in the fall of 2013, Mike Richards called Ken Jennings.

Trump is not ruining democracy, we are.  And it's been anguishing to confront  —  I was worried long before Trump and the Capitol riot, as political jousting turned zealous and well-off friends called America a disastrous mess.  —  I've written about a lot of unpleasant, even frightening, subjects.

Facebook shared new data about what's popular on its platform.  The answers are deeply weird.  —  Report shows a Green Bay Packers alumni page and an online CBD store, not right-wing pundits, are among the most viewed links in people's feeds, as Facebook pushes back against independent studies.

Federal judge rejects Trump-era permits for major Alaska oil project  —  Wednesday's decision is a setback for ConocoPhillips's Willow project, which aims to produce more than 100,000 barrels a day on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska  —  A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the permits …

A mom of 4 who died of covid days after her husband makes one final wish: ‘Make sure my kids get vaccinated’  —  A few weeks ago, Lydia Rodriguez thought her body was strong enough to fight the coronavirus without the vaccine.  —  But after a week-long church camp, she and other members …

Larry David ‘screamed’ at Alan Dershowitz at grocery store over Trump ties  —  It seems that Alan Dershowitz's ties to the Trump administration have made him persona non grata among the Martha's Vineyard elite — including Larry David.  —  A Page Six spy spotted the Harvard Law professor …

Guided by Faith, Divinity Student Fought His ‘Antiracist’ Princeton Seminary — and Won  —  Timothy Keiderling's decision to enroll in the Princeton Theological Seminary reflected his commitment “to give my life to work for justice and to live out the values of the Kingdom of God.”