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.

Ed Asner, Emmy-Winning Star of ‘Lou Grant’ and ‘Up,’ Dies at 91  —  Best known as the gruff newsman he first played on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” he was also a busy character actor and a political activist.  —  Ed Asner, the burly character actor who won seven Emmy Awards …

Hurricane Ida Makes Landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 Storm  —  Powerful winds knocked out power and storm surge flooded low-lying areas as the storm menaced New Orleans.  Officials said it was too late to evacuate and urged residents to hunker down.  —  Here's what you need to know:

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 …

There's chaos and risk in Afghanistan exit, but Biden critics are getting it mostly wrong  —  We have no ongoing security interest in Afghanistan, and we don't send troops everywhere to protect women and human rights.  We do that in other ways.  —  The intellectual dishonesty in critiques …

Joint Statement on Afghanistan Evacuation Travel Assurances  —  The text of the following statement was released initially by the Governments of the United States of America, Albania, Australia, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Canada, Central African Republic, Colombia …

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 …

‘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.

Joe Biden ‘holds grudges’ and will punish Britain for Afghanistan criticism, allies say  —  British Cabinet insiders were quoted as suggesting the US president ‘looked gaga’ and described him as ‘doolally’  —  Joe Biden “will remember” comments about his mental acuity emanating from senior figures …

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 …

North Korea Appears to Have Restarted Yongbyon Nuclear Reactor  —  The reactor's apparent operations add to President Biden's foreign-policy challenges  —  North Korea appears to have resumed operation of its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon in a move that could enable the reclusive country …

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.

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.

Time to rethink Biden's anti-American energy policies  —  There's little room for nuance when it comes to President Biden's energy policy.  The Biden administration appears to be working from one of two realities.  The more charitable interpretation suggests administration officials …

State of the Union  —  JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Specific, credible threat.  President Biden warns another Kabul attack is highly likely, as the U.S. withdrawal deadline approaches.  —  JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We may very well have another attack.

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 …

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 …

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.

Five Decades Later, Medicare Might Cover Dental Care  —  In the large budget bill now in Congress, supporters of the measure see a rare opportunity to advance a popular policy.  —  Tens of millions of older Americans who cannot afford dental care — with severe consequences for their overall health …

How Gavin Newsom went from landslide victory to fighting for his political survival  —  In the giddy early hours of his landslide victory, California's governor-elect struck a tone that signaled the grandiosity of his ambitions.  “The sun is rising in the west, and the arc of history is bending …