Texas anti-mask ‘Freedom Defender’ Caleb Wallace dies at 30  —  A Texas man who led a group of “Freedom Defenders” against mask restrictions died of COVID-19 on Saturday at age 30.  —  Caleb Wallace left behind three children and a pregnant wife.  —  His wife, Jessica …

Health officials sticking with 8-month COVID booster shot timeline: Fauci  —  Biden said Friday that the administration is considering earlier boosters.  —  Public health officials are sticking with the recommendation that people get booster shots eight months after getting the COVID-19 vaccine …

US says drone kills suicide bombers targeting Kabul airport  —  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. drone strike Sunday struck a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan's Islamic State affiliate before they could target the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul's international airport, American officials said.

After 3-week COVID-19 battle, Daytona Beach talk radio host Marc Bernier dies  —  Marc Bernier, a talk radio host in Daytona Beach for 30 years, died after a three-week battle with COVID-19, WNDB and Southern Stone Communications announced on Twitter Saturday night.

Vaccine Refusers Don't Get to Dictate Terms Anymore  —  For months, institutions and companies have been drafting plans to aggressively promote vaccination or require it outright, and last week the FDA gave them license to click the “send” button.  The same day the agency granted full approval …

U.S. military strikes vehicle in Kabul that posed ‘imminent threat,’ official says … The U.S. military carried out a strike on a vehicle in Kabul on Sunday in response to an “imminent” threat to the Afghan capital's airport by the Islamic State militant group, an official said.

MAGA Election Clerk Tina Peters Accused of Not Counting Ballots in Local Races  —  Before she was the subject of an FBI investigation, Stop the Steal diehard Tina Peters oversaw elections where ballots went uncounted or got lost in unsecured drop boxes.  —  Seated onstage at the most-hyped …

Afghanistan Evacuation Flights End as Reopened Banks Face Rush for Cash  —  Dwindling cash reserves pose an early challenge to a new Taliban administration; explosion rocks Kabul neighborhood  —  The international mass airlift effort out of Afghanistan was ending on Sunday as the country's banks opened …

It's Time to Stop Rationalizing and Enabling Evangelical Vaccine Rejection  —  There is no religious liberty interest in refusing the COVID vaccine.  —  As the coronavirus's Delta variant rips through (mainly) the Southeastern United States, two things are becoming clear at once.

POLITICO Playbook: About Jim Jordan's other Jan. 6 call with Trump  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  There are just over 48 hours left before the deadline for U.S. forces to withdraw from Afghanistan.  — The State Department says there are roughly 250 Americans still in Afghanistan who want to leave the country, per a spokesperson.

Biden tells some hard truths few want to hear  —  President Biden on Thursday mournfully delivered information to the country that was disagreeable to many Americans: There is no way to withdraw from a futile war without messiness.  The expectation that there would be no misery or casualties was a fantasy.

Romney blames both Biden and Trump for crisis in Afghanistan  —  Sen. Mitt Romney said Sunday morning that the current situation in Afghanistan is the direct result of decisions made by both the Trump and Biden administrations.  —  “If you focus on what we should do right now …

Trump's lawyers used his tactics to spread disinfo.  Now they're paying for it.  —  Truth has taken a beating during the past few years, from former President Donald Trump's claims about the size of the crowd at his inauguration to his statements that Covid-19 was a hoax.

Among the Troops Who Died, Two Women on the Front Line  —  The Defense Department on Saturday officially identified the service members who were killed, and family and friends paid tribute to their lives and their sacrifice.  —  One of the last photos that Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee shared …

‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author JD Vance is running for Senate as a savior of the Rust Belt.  Insiders and experts say otherwise. … “I am not a senator, a governor, or a former cabinet secretary,” J.D. Vance wrote in the introduction of “Hillbilly Elegy,” his best-selling son-of-the-Rust-Belt-made-good memoir published in 2016.

Surprise, panic and fateful choices: The day America lost its longest war  —  KABUL — On the day that Afghanistan's capital fell to the Taliban, delivering the definitive verdict on a war that had lumbered on ambiguously for nearly 20 years, one of the city's top security officials woke up preparing for battle.