'Don't you ever forget that name': Biden's tough meeting with grieving relatives  —  President Biden made his way on Sunday around a quiet room at Dover Air Force Base, a chamber filled with couches and chairs, with dignitaries and grieving families huddling together as the president came …

Independence MO says positive case traced to public hearing |  The Kansas City Star  —  Two weeks after Independence leaders rejected a proposed mask mandate promoted by the city's own health advisers, the city is encouraging anyone who attended that public meeting to get tested for COVID-19.

GOP Congressman Says He Wants to Bust Out Jan. 6 ‘Political Prisoners’  —  When Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn was asked about what he's doing to help the hundreds in jail awaiting trial for their roles in the violent January 6 riots, he called them “political prisoners”—and said he wanted to “bust them out.”

Taliban Seek Friendly U.S. Ties as Challenges Mount After War  — Militant leaders meet at airport after last U.S. soldiers exit  — China calls on world to provide Taliban economic assistance  —  The Taliban called for friendly ties with the U.S. hours after the last American soldiers flew …

Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump Rule Governing Water Pollution  —  The rule allowed fertilizers, pesticides and industrial chemicals to flow into small streams, marshes and wetlands.  The judge warned of environmental harm.  —  WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday struck …

Forest Service officials confirm all California national forests to temporarily close  —  All of California's national forests will be closed beginning late Tuesday.  —  The closures will go into effect at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and stay in place until the same time on Sept. 17 …

Trump acolytes poised to push out Senate dealmakers  —  If Senate Republicans seem conservative now, just wait until next year.  The 2022 midterms could usher in a wave of full-spectrum MAGA supporters who would turn the GOP conference an even deeper shade of red — and make the Senate a lot more like the fractious House.

The Density Divide and the Southernification of Rural America  —  The Old North/South Split Lives on in the Urban/Rural Divide  —  When I was a kid, the accents changed.  Driving north from central Iowa through the corn toward Minnesota, the dialect would gradually get a little Fargo …

Joe Biden's Critics Lost Afghanistan  —  A month ago I thought I was a cynic about our 20-year war in Afghanistan.  Today, after watching our stumbling withdrawal and the swift collapse of practically everything we fought for, my main feeling is that I wasn't cynical enough.

Biden Waived Congressional Mandate for Report on Afghanistan Withdrawal Risks  —  President Joe Biden waived a mandate in June that would have forced the Pentagon to provide a detailed report to Congress about the risks of leaving Afghanistan.  —  Under the federal statute …

FBI: Texas shooter possibly inspired by foreign terrorists  —  GARLAND, Texas (AP) — Investigators are looking into whether a Texas man was inspired by foreign terrorists when he killed a Lyft driver in a Dallas suburb and later opened fire in the police station of another suburb where officers fatally shot him.

Laurence Tribe: If Garland doesn't prosecute Trump, the rule of law is “out the window”  —  Eminent constitutional law expert: If Biden and Garland won't go after Trump, country is in “desperate trouble”  —  If American democracy were a hospital patient, the diagnosis would be “critical”.

Biden brings the world closer to nuclear war  —  Over the past six months, the world has edged closer to nuclear war than it has been since the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The Doomsday Clock is ticking toward midnight.  The global power balance has been dramatically reshuffled …

Partisan divides in media trust widen, driven by a decline among Republicans  —  In just five years, the percentage of Republicans with at least some trust in national news organizations has been cut in half - dropping from 70% in 2016 to 35% this year.  This decline is fueling the continued widening …

No, the Taliban did not seize $83 billion of U.S. weapons  —  “ALL EQUIPMENT should be demanded to be immediately returned to the United States, and that includes every penny of the $85 billion dollars in cost.”  — Former president Donald Trump, in a statement, Aug 30

U.S.'s Pledge to Fight Terrorists in Afghanistan Will Be Harder Without Boots on the Ground  —  Biden promises ‘over-the-horizon’ surveillance and attacks; officials say U.S. has lost many key assets for tracking violent militants  —  WASHINGTON—President Biden and his aides promise …

Biden tries to move past Afghanistan fiasco  —  President Joe Biden meets virtually with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and governors and mayors from states and cities impacted by Hurricane Ida on Aug. 30, 2021 in Washington, D.C. |  The United States officially ended its 20-year war in Afghanistan.

The I-word looms: McCarthy faces internal pressure to go harder at Biden on Afghanistan  —  As hard as Kevin McCarthy has hammered the White House over the chaotic and deadly U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, he's under rising pressure from his right to go further.

After Afghanistan, War's Idealists Must Accept Defeat  —  As the Western occupation of Afghanistan has come to an end, TV news is broadcasting harrowing scenes of death and destruction, citizens in fear, allies abandoned, and dreams dashed.  —  While the cynicism of key leaders has been exposed …

Twitter Permanently Bans Former NYT Journalist Alex Berenson  —  We previously discussed how Twitter's growing censorship program has targeted former New York Times journalist and author Alex Berenson who is an outspoken critic of the government's scientific claims and response to the pandemic.

The Intolerable Wait for a Kids' Vaccine  —  Julie Swann, an engineer who studies health systems and models infectious disease at North Carolina State University, leads a team of researchers who recently tried to simulate how the Delta variant of the coronavirus could move through schools in various scenarios.

AOC, Tlaib, Pressley call on Biden to dump Powell as Fed chair  —  Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley on Monday called for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to be replaced, stepping up the pressure on President Joe Biden as he draws closer to a decision on the government's most important economic post.