US special operations vets carry out daring mission to save Afghan allies  —  At least 13 service members were killed in an attack in Kabul Thursday.  —  With the Taliban growing more violent and adding checkpoints near Kabul's airport, an all-volunteer group of American veterans …

NRB spokesman Dan Darling fired after pro-vaccine statements on ‘Morning Joe’  —  Daniel Darling, right, appears on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on Aug. 2, 2021, with host Joe Scarborough.  Video screengrab  —  (RNS) — The spokesman for a major evangelical nonprofit was fired for promoting vaccines on the MSNBC …

Marine commander puts career on the line to demand accountability over Afghanistan withdrawal in viral video  —  On Thursday, a Marine infantry officer and battalion commander took to social media to air his frustrations with senior military leadership over their handling of the U.S. military's withdrawal …

He was a baby on 9/11.  Now he's one of the last casualties of America's longest war.  —  After Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, 20, landed in Afghanistan with his Marine unit, his father, Jim, began checking his phone for a little green dot.  Mr. McCollum had not been able to talk with his son …

Texas Anti-Mask ‘Freedom Rally’ Organizer Fighting For His Life With COVID-19  —  A Texas man who helped organize protests against pandemic restrictions is fighting for his life after being hospitalized for nearly a month with COVID-19, the  —  San Angelo Standard-Times reported.

Having SARS-CoV-2 once confers much greater immunity than a vaccine—but no infection parties, please  —  The natural immune protection that develops after a SARS-CoV-2 infection offers considerably more of a shield against the Delta variant of the pandemic coronavirus than two doses …

California parole panel votes in favor of release from prison for Sirhan Sirhan  —  Parole for 77-year-old convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy still must be approved by full board, governor  —  A California parole board panel on Friday voted in favor of Sirhan B. Sirhan's request …

The utter ridiculousness of calls for Joe Biden to resign  —  (CNN)Thursday was a very bad day for Joe Biden as president.  —  The deaths of 13 American soldiers after twin blasts at the Kabul airport served as a devastating blow for an already fraught attempt by Biden to pull all American troops …

Florida court rejects effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis to ban mask mandates.  —  A Florida court on Friday rejected an effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials to prevent mask mandates in schools during the state's worst Covid-19 outbreak yet.  —  Judge John C. Cooper …

At a Children's Hospital, a Wave of Young Patients Struggling to Breathe  —  A federal “surge team” is helping exhausted doctors and nurses through one of the most trying periods in the history of Children's Hospital New Orleans.  —  NEW ORLEANS — Helpless to improve her infant son's breathing …

‘He just enjoyed life’: Ohio sailor Max Soviak killed in Kabul airport attack  —  An Ohio Navy corpsman is among the 13 Americans killed in Thursday's bombings outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.  —  Maxton “Max” Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, was a 2017 graduate of Edison High School …

Chair Jerome H. Powell  —  At the “Macroeconomic Policy in an Uneven Economy,” economic policy symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyoming (via webcast)  —  Seventeen months have passed since the U.S. economy faced the full force of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A school district opted out of a free meals program, saying students could ‘become spoiled’  —  With two girls in elementary school and a mother who is a teacher, the Dringenburg household in a Milwaukee suburb had been joyous and excited about back-to-school season — until this year …

GOP senator to Asheville business group: COVID-19 unvaccinated the problem, not immigrants  —  ASHEVILLE - Sen. Thom Tillis told a conservative local business group that anti-pandemic measures should focus on getting North Carolinians vaccinated, not on migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Days After ‘Kraken’ Sanctions Ruling, Wisconsin Governor Asks Judge to Force Trump to Pay Up ‘Personally’  —  Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) asked a federal judge to force former President Donald Trump to “personally” pay fees for his “audacious” election-subversion efforts …

Parents chase and shout at governor over mask mandate  —  A meeting that included discussion about Connecticut's school mask mandate got heated as angry parents followed Gov. Ned Lamont out of the building and shouted at him.Source: WFSB  —  FOLLOW CNN POLITICS

Republicans split on strategy to make Biden pay a political price for Afghanistan  —  (CNN)The GOP is divided over how hard — and how quickly — to go after President Joe Biden in the wake of Thursday's deadly attack on US troops at the Kabul airport.  —  While a growing chorus of rank …

UGA professor resigns mid-class after student refuses to wear mask  —  A University of Georgia retiree-rehire professor resigned on Tuesday after one of his students refused to properly wear a mask in an upper division psychology seminar class held at the psychology building.

Leading From Fear  —  Worth dissecting where we are with Covid.  Instead of watching the television, or listening to blowhard politicians, it is best to look at data and statistics.  Unfortunately, most people do not understand stats.  Most of the stats you see in the news are manipulated in some way to drive an opinion.

Taliban kill squad hunting down Afghans — using US biometric data  —  The Taliban has mobilized a special unit, called Al Isha, to hunt down Afghans who helped US and allied forces — and it's using US equipment and data to do it.  —  Nawazuddin Haqqani, one of the brigade commanders over the Al Isha unit …

US intelligence community review does not determine origin of Covid-19  —  (CNN)The US intelligence community reached an inconclusive assessment about the origin of the Covid-19 virus following a 90-day investigation ordered by President Joe Biden, according to an unclassified summary of the probe released publicly on Friday.

Justice Breyer on Retirement and the Role of Politics at the Supreme Court  —  In an interview prompted by his new book, the 83-year-old leader of the court's liberal wing said he is working on a decision about when to step down.  —  WASHINGTON — Justice Stephen G. Breyer says he is struggling …

How 'America's Frontline Doctors' Sold Access to Bogus COVID-19 Treatments—and Left Patients in the Lurch  —  Mike says he was struggling with COVID-19 when he felt his breathing getting worse.  He did not want to go to the Veterans Affairs hospital near his home, where he believed doctors might put him on a ventilator.

California GOP Recall Candidate Larry Elder Wanted To End Medicaid  —  In 2010, Elder said he was also against mandating that insurance companies cover people with preexisting conditions.  —  Larry Elder, the Republican front-runner in the campaign to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom …