In Kabul, Private Rescue Efforts Grow Desperate as Time to Evacuate Afghans Runs Out  —  Defense contractor Erik Prince charges $6,500 a person, other groups' planes leave Kabul empty  —  A disparate group of American veterans, military contractors, aid workers and former spies is scrambling …

Select Committee Issues Sweeping Demand for Executive Branch Records  —  Bolton, MS—Today, Chairman Bennie G. Thompson announced the Select Committee's first round of demands for records as the committee expands its investigation into the January 6th violent attack on the U.S. Capitol and its causes.

Fact check: Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy makes at least 5 false claims in 7-minute Fox News interview  —  This is what Trump said about US' evacuation of Afghan allies  —  Washington (CNN)House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy made at least five false claims during a seven-minute Sunday interview on Fox News.

Defendant in Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor Sentenced to Six Years  —  Ty G. Garbin, 25, had pleaded guilty to taking part in an extremist plot driven by anger at the governor's efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.  —  The only defendant to plead guilty to taking part in a plot …

Students from San Diego County school district stranded in Afghanistan  —  At least 24 students from the Cajon Valley Union School District in El Cajon and 16 parents are stranded in Afghanistan after taking a summer trip abroad.  —  They are among thousands of individuals waiting to leave …

New NY governor adds 12,000 deaths to publicized COVID tally  —  ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul promised more government transparency on her first day in office and by day's end her administration had quietly delivered it by acknowledging nearly 12,000 more deaths in the state …

Enough is Enough: Antifa Attacks Reporter in Portland  —  Antifa's influence may be exaggerated, but it's not a mythical Snuffleupagus, either, as they showed in attacking reporter Maranie Staab from our partner News2Share this past weekend.  —  This past Sunday, while covering a protest in Portland …

‘This Case Was Never About Fraud’: Federal Judge Refers ‘Kraken’ Attorneys, Including Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, for ‘Possible Suspension or Disbarment’  —  A federal judge sent a strong message to each of the so-called “Kraken” lawyers behind litigation to upend the 2020 election …

Ed Bastian memo: COVID-19 update  —  CEO Ed Bastian shared a memo with employees on Wednesday regarding COVID-19.  —  Ed Bastian to Delta Colleagues Worldwide  —  COVID-19 update  —  Since the earliest days of the pandemic, our No. 1 priority has always been to protect our people and customers.

2 U.S. Representatives Try to Explain Unauthorized Visit to Kabul  —  Representatives Seth Moulton and Peter Meijer said they could not get answers on the evacuation from the Biden administration, so they went to Afghanistan to see for themselves.  —  WASHINGTON — Representatives Seth Moulton …

Prosecutor: South Dakota AG to take plea deal in fatal crash  —  PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg will avoid a trial and take a plea deal for misdemeanor traffic charges in a crash last year in which he hit and killed a man who was walking along a rural highway, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Johnson & Johnson booster shot prompts large increase in immune response, company says  —  (CNN)Booster doses of Johnson & Johnson's one-shot coronavirus vaccine generated a big spike in antibodies, the frontline immune system defenses against infection, the company reported Wednesday.

The Latest G.O.P. Schism: How to Handle Afghan Evacuees  —  The resettlement of Afghan allies in the U.S. is revealing an internal divide between the party's anti-immigrant wing and other conservatives who want to help the refugees.  —  WASHINGTON — The Republican Party is united …

In First Interview From Jail, an Upbeat Navalny Discusses Prison Life  —  Russian political prisoners today are subjected to “psychological” pressure, said the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, who is forced to watch state TV for more than eight hours a day.

NYPD's largest police union vows to sue over possible COVID vaccine mandate  —  The Big Apple's largest police union told its members Wednesday that it would sue the city if cops are required to get the COVID-19 vaccine, The Post has learned.  —  “If the City attempts to impose a vaccine mandate …

The Bizarre Refusal to Apply Cost-Benefit Analysis to COVID Debates  —  Are those who oppose a ban on cars or a radical reduction in speed limits sociopaths, given the huge number of people they are knowingly consigning to death or maiming?  —  In virtually every realm of public policy …

Florida is the only state where more people are dying of COVID now than ever before.  What went wrong?  —  A few months ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, declared his hands-off approach to COVID-19 “  —  a tremendous success.  ” Politico announced that he had “  —  won the pandemic.

Sirhan Sirhan, convicted of Robert F. Kennedy assassination, seeks parole with no opposition from prosecutors  —  Attorneys say that 53 years behind bars is sufficient punishment for the 77-year-old; Kennedy family declines to weigh in  —  Sirhan B. Sirhan, convicted of the 1968 assassination …

Florida Voters Give Governor DeSantis Mixed Grades, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Nearly 6 In 10 Don't Want DeSantis To Run For President In 2024  — mail_outline  —  With Florida currently struggling with one of the highest rates of COVID-19 in the country, slightly more than half of voters …

Offices Dangle Beehives and Garden Plots to Coax Workers Back  —  The latest perks include harvesting honey and digging in the dirt, part of a growing effort to give employees access to fresh air, sunlight and plants.  —  The investment company Nuveen has spent $120 million renovating …

Padma Lakshmi says disparaging Indian food isn't funny.  It's ugly.  —  Comedy, when done well, has the power to transmute our personal and collective pain.  From slapstick to satire to memes, it can be a balm, a moment of catharsis to punctuate the often-cruel and random nature of life, reminding us of our common humanity.

The Media Manufactured Biden's Political ‘Fiasco’ in Afghanistan “Straight news” has chosen sanctimony over circumspection.  —  America's withdrawal from Afghanistan has yet to cost our nation a single casualty.  Evacuations of U.S. citizens and allies from Kabul's airport are proceeding …

He's No Longer Host.  But Mike Richards Is Still Running ‘Jeopardy!’  —  Defying a backlash over sexist and crude comments, a top Sony TV executive told the show's staff that they were standing behind Mr. Richards as the executive producer.  —  Last week, Mike Richards lost his gig as the new host of …

Where America Lost And Gained Population Could Help Democrats In Redistricting  —  With the release of block-level data from the 2020 census, we now have a much clearer picture of how and where the U.S. population has grown — and shrunk — over the past 10 years.

Facebook Said to Consider Forming an Election Commission  —  The social network has contacted academics to create a group to advise it on thorny election-related decisions, said people with knowledge of the matter.  —  Facebook has approached academics and policy experts about forming …

Origins of SARS-CoV-2: window is closing for key scientific studies … Marion Koopmans is head of the Department of Viroscience at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.  —  You can also search for this author in  —  PubMed Google Scholar  —  Peter Daszak is president …