With ban in effect, Texas abortion clinics say they won't terminate pregnancies after 6 weeks  —  AUSTIN — Texas enacted the nation's strictest state-level abortion ban Wednesday, prohibiting the procedure in most cases after six weeks of pregnancy, with an emergency request for the Supreme Court to block the statute going unanswered.

52% of Voters Think Biden Should Resign Over Afghanistan Withdrawal  —  The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was so badly handled that President Joe Biden should resign because of it, according to a majority of voters.  However, most don't think Vice President Kamala Harris is qualified to replace Biden if he leaves office.

Bankruptcy judge approves Purdue Pharma plan to resolve opioid claims, giving Sackler family civil immunity  —  More than two decades after Purdue Pharma launched its blockbuster pain pill OxyContin, preceding a deadly overdose crisis, a judge approved a bankruptcy plan Wednesday …

Kevin McCarthy keeps revealing how ugly a GOP House would be  —  Mark this down: If Republicans win the House in the 2022 elections, one of their very first acts in the majority will be to impeach President Biden for the offense of having won the 2020 election.  —  Okay, that's a joke.  But only partly.

White supremacist praise of the Taliban takeover concerns US officials  —  Video reportedly shows Taliban celebrating with military parade  —  (CNN)As the United States-backed government in Afghanistan fell to the Taliban and US troops raced to leave the country, White supremacist …

The Legal Minds Who Tried to Overturn the Election for Trump Are Being Welcomed Back Into Polite Society  —  Though it hasn't received the attention it deserves, courage from Republican election officials and leaders helped save this country from a total election meltdown in 2020 based on lies …

Sweetgreen CEO: Vaccines and Masks Will Not Save Us, But Salads Might  —  The pricey salad chain CEO took to LinkedIn to espouse his views on the pandemic, such as that Americans who got seriously ill were too fat.  —  EO  —  On Tuesday, the CEO of Sweetgreen, a restaurant chain …

Judge Dismisses Hunter Biden Laptop Guy's Defamation Lawsuit with Prejudice, Forces Him to Pay Twitter's Attorneys' Fees Under Anti-SLAPP Law  —  A federal court in Florida has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed against Twitter by the Delaware computer repairman who briefly captured national attention during …

Exclusive: Government can't reach one-in-three released migrant kids  —  The U.S. government has lost contact with thousands of migrant children released from its custody, according to data obtained by Axios through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Trump Organization Employees to Testify Before Manhattan Grand Jury  —  Senior finance official and director of security set to appear this week as criminal probe into Donald Trump's business affairs continues  —  Two Trump Organization employees are expected to testify before a grand jury …

Texas parents accused a Black principal of promoting critical race theory.  The district has now suspended him.  —  At a heated Texas school board meeting in late July, a man accused a Black principal of promoting critical race theory and “the conspiracy theory of systemic racism.”

Far-Right Propagandist Turns up in Moscow After Jan. 6  —  Russia Insider founder Charles Bausman traveled from his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and advanced as far as the Capitol's balustrades after Trump's speech, he said.  Soon after, he left the country for Moscow.

Majority of Interpreters, Other U.S. Visa Applicants Were Left Behind in Afghanistan, Official Says  —  Many Afghan allies had applied for visas to escape reprisal from the Taliban

McDonald's McFlurry Machine Is Broken (Again).  Now the FTC Is On It.  —  The frequently malfunctioning equipment leads to a lawsuit and gets the federal antitrust agency involved  —  Can the FTC help get you your McFlurry?  —  As many customers of McDonald's know all too well …

Meghan McCain: I don't recognize this Joe Biden  —  Confused, thin-skinned, full of himself, and ready to burn more straw men than the Wicked Witch of the West?  Many of us recognize this version of Joe Biden well indeed, but in fairness to Meghan McCain, many of us didn't have Biden helping us through the grief of losing a father.

Massive randomized study is proof that surgical masks limit coronavirus spread, authors say  —  The authors of a study based on an enormous randomized research project in Bangladesh say their results offer the best evidence yet that widespread wearing of surgical masks can limit the spread of the coronavirus in communities.

Has Delta Peaked?  —  We investigate Covid's mysterious two-month cycle.  —  Has the Delta-fueled Covid-19 surge in the U.S. finally peaked?  —  The number of new daily U.S. cases has risen less over the past week than at any point since June, as you can see in this chart:

Jaleel Stallings shot at the MPD; a jury acquitted him of wrongdoing  —  Before the white, unmarked cargo van of the Minneapolis Police Department drove down Lake Street, an officer gave Sgt. Andrew Bittell his orders: “Drive down Lake Street.  You see a group, call it out.  OK great!

Top U.S. diplomat during Kabul evacuation tests positive for Covid  —  Ross Wilson, who was the chargé d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, recently tested positive for Covid-19, according to three people familiar with the matter.  He currently only has very mild, cold-like symptoms, one of the people said.

California Recall Election Aug Survey  —  California Recall Election Aug Survey See Report Here

An Open Letter to Tucker Carlson from a Hungarian Conservative  —  Viktor Orbán isn't building the Christian conservative Disneyland in Hungary you think he is, but a Chinese and Russian Trojan Horse in the EU and NATO.  —  Editor's note: Earlier this month, Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson visited Hungary.

What Happened to the Babylon Bee?  —  Until a few years ago, the Babylon Bee was a niche humor site—the Onion for conservative Protestants.  The Bee was founded seven months before Donald Trump took office and became popular mostly because many of the jokes were very funny—but also …

Amtrak might add more than 50 new routes.  But they still won't be faster than a car  —  Washington, DC (CNN)The $1 trillion infrastructure bill appears set to give passenger and freight rail $66 billion, an infusion that will likely expand where service is offered but does little to increase the speed of train travel in the US.

‘Majority’ of Afghan SIVs left behind, State Dept. official estimates  —  A State Department official said in a private briefing to reporters that “the majority” of special immigrant visa applicants were left in Afghanistan due in part to the complications of the evacuation, and that he and his team are …

Arrest warrant issued for Ohio man accused of confronting NBC's Shaquille Brewster on live TV  —  Mississippi police issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for an Ohio man who they say confronted NBC News' Shaquille Brewster on live television.  —  The man, Benjamin Eugene Dagley, of Wooster …

Ben Dugan Works for CVS.  His Job Is Battling a $45 Billion Crime Spree.  —  Retailers are spending millions to combat organized rings that steal from their stores in bulk and peddle goods online, often on Amazon  —  Ben Dugan sat in an unmarked sedan in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood …

‘It still seems unbelievable’  —  At 36, Simon Maloy was a successful political writer with a wife and two young sons.  Then he found out he had colon cancer, a disease striking more and more young people.  —  Three days.  That's all Simon Maloy got.  Three days to hop on bikes …

MoD could move UK nuclear subs abroad if Scotland breaks away  —  Contingency plans for Trident look at US and French bases if no long-term lease possible on navy facilities like Faslane  —  The UK has drawn up secret contingency plans to move its Trident nuclear submarine bases from Scotland …

Trump endorses primary challenger to Herrera Beutler over impeachment vote  —  Former President Trump on Wednesday endorsed Joe Kent, a Washington state Republican waging a primary challenge against Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R), who was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump …

America has wasted at least 15 million Covid vaccine doses since March, new data shows  —  The United States has thrown away at least 15.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since March 1, according to government data obtained by NBC News — a far larger number than previously known and still probably an undercount.

FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces Immediate Steps to Increase Affordable Housing Supply  —  Immediate Steps Supplement the Biden-Harris Administration's Push for Historic, Long-Term Investments in New Housing as Part of the Build Back Better Agenda

America's Acute Governance Problem  —  We have difficulty handing out money intended for people who need it.  And that's just the beginning.  —  Demonstrators in Brooklyn, New York, call for an extension of the state's eviction ban until 2022 and the cancellation of rent, August 19, 2021.

Republicans Flip-Flop on Support for Afghanistan Withdrawal  —  Eager to denounce President Biden, some Republicans have flip-flopped on bringing U.S. troops home — making it difficult to discern what they actually believe.  —  WASHINGTON — Early last year, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California …