Gov. Abbott: Abortion bill won't force rape victims to have babies, Texas will ‘eliminate’ rapists  —  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott weighed in on a burning question related to the state's recently passed bill banning abortions after six weeks: what about victims of rape?

Idaho hospitals begin rationing health care amid COVID surge  —  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho public health leaders announced Tuesday that they activated “crisis standards of care” allowing health care rationing for the state's northern hospitals because there are more coronavirus patients than the institutions can handle.

Mexico's Supreme Court Votes to Decriminalize Abortion  —  The ruling sets a landmark legal precedent for potential legalization nationwide in the conservative Catholic country of some 120 million people.  —  MEXICO CITY — Mexico's Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that making abortion a crime …

Scoop: Manchin backs as little as $1 trillion of Biden's $3.5 trillion plan  —  Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) has privately warned the White House and congressional leaders that he has specific policy concerns with President Biden's $3.5 trillion social spending dream — and he'll support as little …

How the rise of Politico shifted political journalism off course  —  Politico's sale last month to the German media company Axel Springer for a reported $1 billion was the culmination of a stunning rise of a publication founded in 2007 in what most people assumed was an overly-crowded market: coverage of Washington and U.S. politics.

Donald Trump will host Holyfield vs Belfort boxing match in Florida on September 11 and will be joined at the highly-anticipated event by his son Don Jr.  — Donald Trump will be hosting and commentating on the September 11 boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort in Hollywood, Florida

Britney Spears' father petitions to end her conservatorship  —  (CNN)Britney Spears' fight to end her court-ordered conservatorship took an unexpected turn on Tuesday when her father and the conservator of her estate, Jamie Spears, filed a petition to end the arrangement.

Taliban Appointees Signal an Afghan Government Like the One Decades Ago  —  The Taliban, who promised an inclusive leadership, drew from its own ranks to fill key government positions.  For the second time in less than a week, protests that included hundreds of women were crushed.

State Department obstruction of private rescue flights from Afghanistan revealed in leaked email  —  State Department ‘will not provide an approval’ of charter flights from Afghanistan, leaked email reveals  —  State Dept accused of blocking evacuation flights from Afghanistan

Volusia County Councilman Fred Lowry ‘in the hospital wrestling with COVID-19’  —  DELAND — Volusia County Councilman Fred Lowry is hospitalized with COVID-19, County Chair Jeff Brower announced Tuesday.  —  “He is in the hospital wrestling with COVID-19.

We Found Rage In A Hopeless Place  —  People had big ideas for this summer that's now coming to an end.  This one would be normal, verging on fun and sexy, in a country now 18 months deep into a pandemic that keeps killing and denying, and six years into an extended surreal experience.

All White Men Are White Men  —  If “white men” does not mean white men, how can “white men” hurt white men?  —  Categorical claims about people carry a certain amount of rhetorical force.  They do so because we have a variety of psychological and political hang-ups about categories like race and gender …

Why the pro-choice movement must go on the offensive  —  A cardinal rule of politics is when you have a political advantage, exploit it.  Drive a wedge in the opposing camp by forcing them to defend the indefensible, and then seize on their unpopularity to suppress their turnout and increase your own.

Former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson III dies at 90  —  Former U.S. Sen. Adlai E. Stevenson III, the fourth generation of an iconic Illinois Democratic political family to hold public office and who lost the closest governor's race in state history, died Monday in his Chicago home.  He was 90.

An Incredible Exercise in Public Hypocrisy Is Unfolding Right on Schedule  —  The world's most predictable exercise in public hypocrisy is unfolding right on schedule.  After spending a couple of weeks belaboring the administration over how it allegedly left our Afghan allies behind …

The U.S. surpasses 40 million known coronavirus cases.  —  More than 40 million cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in the United States, according to a New York Times database.  —  The total number of known infections, more than the population of California, the nation's most populous state …

Biden anxiety levels  —  Presented by The American Petroleum Institute (API)  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.  With Allie Bice  —  JOE BIDEN often thinks he's his own best messenger.

How a Massachusetts case could end the Texas abortion law  —  We successfully invoked the civil parallel of the Ku Klux Klan Act to prevent the neighbor of a Harvard Square restaurant from wielding a state-conferred veto power over the issuance of any liquor license within a 500-foot radius.

Death of a Storyteller Rare is the actor who can locate the specific in the universal and vice versa.  Michael K. Williams was that actor.  —  Michael K. Williams made you believe.  —  Michael K. Williams made you believe in Omar Little, a legendary Baltimore stickup man so fearsome …

NRCC dumps NYC retreat, adds Trump headliner  —  The GOP's House campaign arm is shuffling its winter fundraising schedule, putting Donald Trump in front of its top financial backers for its annual dinner.  —  Driving the news: The National Republican Congressional Committee told donors …

The Non-Education of Ross Douthat  —  The New York Times columnist insists on defending a version of the Republican party that doesn't exist.  —  It's a tricky situation: How is one to be a loyal and energetic advocate of electing Republicans without joining the corrupt, authoritarian cult of Trumpism that has subsumed the party?

Sean Parnell's wife sought protective orders against him.  A rival says that's ‘disqualifying.’  —  Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Jeff Bartos launched a charged personal attack against a leading GOP opponent Tuesday, arguing that Sean Parnell is “unelectable” …

Biden twisted inside out as he claims people don't say ‘tornado’ anymore  —  President Joe Biden stumbled through parts of his Tuesday briefing on Hurricane Ida, leaving the definition of a tornado unclear.  —  Biden visited New York and New Jersey to observe the damage caused in recent days by Hurricane Ida.

Poll: School mask mandate fight goes beyond battleground states  —  Most parents back mask mandates, but the states where GOP parents are most opposed aren't the ones we always hear about, according to a new Axios/Momentive poll.  —  Why it matters: While plenty of attention …

Americans' Ratings of CDC Communication Turn Negative  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — More Americans now disagree (41%) than agree (32%) that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has communicated a clear plan of action in response to the COVID-19 situation.