George W. Bush just threw a whole lot of shade at Donald Trump  —  (CNN)The man who was president during the attacks of September 11, 2001, used a speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of that terrible day to call out the “malign force” coursing through the country thanks to the presidency …

F.E.C. Dismisses Claims That Twitter Illegally Blocked Hunter Biden Article  —  Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken defended the Biden administration's decision to withdraw American forces and diplomats from Afghanistan on Monday, saying there was no evidence that the country would have stabilized …

Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All.  Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That's Exempt.  —  A program known as XCheck has given millions of celebrities, politicians and other high-profile users special treatment, a privilege many abuse  —  Mark Zuckerberg has publicly said Facebook Inc. allows …

Help!  I Couldn't Stop Writing Fake Dear Prudence Letters That Got Published  —  Sometime at the tail end of 2018, shortly after abandoning yet another draft of what was supposed to be my fifth Young Adult novel, I took up a different form of fiction: I started writing fake letters to Dear Prudence, Slate's long-running advice column.

Apple Issues Emergency Security Updates to Close a Spyware Flaw  —  Researchers at Citizen Lab found that NSO Group, an Israeli spyware company, had infected Apple products without so much as a click.  —  Apple on Monday issued emergency software updates for a critical vulnerability …

As Newsom leads California recall polls, Larry Elder pushes baseless fraud claims  —  WASHINGTON — Republicans in Tuesday's California gubernatorial recall election are already laying the groundwork to argue the election was stolen — even before a single ballot is reported or a victor declared …

DeSantis and the Agony of the Anti-Anti-Anti-Vaxx Republican The GOP-elite darling tries to walk a careful line, and falls off.  —  The right-wing backlash against the coronavirus vaccines has forced Republican politicians to make an agonizing choice.  On the one hand, public health …

USCP Officers Arrest California Man with Bayonet & Machete  —  This morning the United States Capitol Police arrested a California man who had multiple knives in his truck near the Democratic National Committee headquarters.  —  “This is good police work plain and simple,” said Chief Tom Manger.

Our Most Reliable Pandemic Number Is Losing Meaning  —  At least 12,000 Americans have already died from COVID-19 this month, as the country inches through its latest surge in cases.  But another worrying statistic is often cited to depict the dangers of this moment: The number …

What the Never Trumpers Want Now  —  Many of the conservatives and Republicans appalled by Donald Trump's presidency clutched a hope through the bewildering years: Someday this would all be over and politics would return to normal.  —  But normal has not returned.

Bob Enyart, conservative firebrand and pastor, dies of COVID-19  —  Conservative firebrand Bob Enyart, the pastor of the Denver Bible Church and indelible talk show host, has died from COVID-19, his radio co-host announced Monday on Facebook.  —  “Bob Enyart was one of the smartest …

Veronica Wolski, Woman Who QAnoners Demanded Hospital Treat COVID With Ivermectin, Dies  —  A woman who became the center of a harassment campaign against a Chicago hospital as QAnon supporters demanded they treat her COVID-19 diagnosis with ivermectin has died, according to reports.

They obey the bespoke instructions that pop up on their screens: Don't wait outside Benny's Burritos, don't ask to use the restroom, be “super nice!” to Dig Inn because it is a “VIP client” — or have your account suspended.  —  The apps failed and bought each other, and now three giants remain …

Homeland Security chief of staff abruptly resigns  —  Karen Olick, chief of staff to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, announced on Monday that she will be leaving for a new, undisclosed opportunity.  —  Jennifer Higgins, the current associate director of Refugee …

Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years if geneticist's new start-up succeeds  — Tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm is helping to fund a project by Harvard geneticist George Church to revive the woolly mammoth.  — The project, called Colossal, aims to create a calf in as little as six years, Church told CNBC.

Seven reasons to think Senate Democrats will actually change the filibuster  —  The party has to pass voting rights legislation.  Changing the rules is the only way to do it.  —  In the middle of a brazen nationwide assault on voting rights, of a kind we have not seen since Jim Crow …

Why Democrats Are Losing Texas Latinos  —  The party assumes people of color will turn the state blue.  But most Tejanos consider themselves white.  And more are voting Republican.  —  In an interview with Javier Villalobos in early June, Fox Business host Stuart Varney presented his guest with a riddle.

‘Smell my hair’: Hundreds of protesters greet Biden in Idaho  —  Hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest President Joe Biden's visit to Boise, Idaho, on Monday.  —  The president, who is visiting Boise as part of his two-day tour of western states, including California and Colorado …

Major Trump Backer Is Hosting a Huge QAnon Conference in Las Vegas  —  A Nevada businessman who once cleared out his company's warehouse to host a Trump rally in violation of state lockdown laws, has become the new host for the country's biggest QAnon conference.

Most Hollywood Writers' Rooms Look Nothing Like America  —  I. “You Can Hear a Pin Drop”  —  Carl Winslow, the protagonist of the '90s sitcom Family Matters, wore his badge with honor.  On the show, about a middle-class Black household in Chicago, Winslow (played by Reginald VelJohnson) …

California couple die of covid, leaving five kids behind.  Their newborn is 3 weeks old.  —  Davy Macias, 37, was intubated and dying of complications from covid-19 when doctors helped her give birth to her daughter.  She would never see her baby.  —  Her husband, Daniel Macias, 39 …

With big tax push, Democrats aim to tackle enormous gains of top 1 percent  —  The package is a central component of their $3.5 trillion economic package, but they can't proceed unless almost all Democrats coalesce.  —  Senior House Democrats on Monday unveiled legislation that would represent …

Former US Sen. Al Franken talks political downfall, return to comedy before Northampton show  —  The past few years have been unsettling for many — and Al Franken is no exception.  —  After a successful career in comedy, including a lengthy stint on NBC's “Saturday Night Live,” …

POLITICO Playbook: Grisham dishes on Melania  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  THE WEEK AHEAD: JOE BIDEN campaigns with GAVIN NEWSOM in Long Beach, Calif., tonight before voters there decide Tuesday whether Newsom should be recalled (polls show him up by double digits) ... Secretary …

Family of U.S. hostage held by Taliban calls for envoy's firing  —  The family of Mark Frerichs on Monday urged U.S. President Joe Biden to fire his chief Afghanistan peace negotiator, charging that the envoy has done little to win the release of the last American believed to be held hostage by the Taliban.

‘Their Crisis’ Is ‘Our Problem’: Washington Grapples With Idaho Covid Cases  —  Hospitals in Washington State, already strained, are taking on an influx of Covid patients from Idaho, where the governor has refused to require masks or vaccinations.  —  SPOKANE, Wash. — Surgeries to remove brain tumors have been postponed.

Joe Manchin Thinks Parents Should Have To Work For Child Tax Credit  —  “Don't you think, if we're going to help the children, that the people should make some effort?” the West Virginia senator said on CNN.  —  Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) suggested Sunday that he's fundamentally opposed …

The Forever Trial at Guantánamo  —  President Biden moved to end the war in Afghanistan, but the proceedings against the remaining war-on-terror detainees, including the 9/11 suspects, drag on.  —  When President Joe Biden spoke, last month, about the need to end “forever wars,” …