Biden's winning the Afghan messaging  —  With help from Bryan Bender, Connor O'Brien, Paul McLeary and Lee Hudson  —  Welcome to National Security Daily, your guide to the global events roiling Washington and keeping the administration up at night.  —  FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY …

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 …

She's One Of Congress's Leading Progressives — Just Not In Her Own Office, Staffers Say  —  WASHINGTON — Last May, Rep. Pramila Jayapal introduced the Paycheck Recovery Act, aimed at curbing layoffs during the pandemic by having the federal government pay people's salaries.

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 …

Scoop: Sinema's secret spreadsheets  —  Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) is negotiating the size and scope of President Biden's $3.5 trillion budget plan armed with her own spreadsheets about the costs and tax hikes needed for each program, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Under G.O.P. Pressure, Tech Giants Are Empowered by Election Agency  —  New rulings by the Federal Election Commission protect the flexibility of major social media companies to control political content shared on their platforms.  —  When Twitter decided briefly last fall to block users …

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 …

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.

Tucker Carlson Touts Nicki Minaj's Vaccine Comments, Reads Aloud Her Swollen Testicle Tweet  —  Tucker Carlson took a moment during his Monday night show to tout Nicki Minaj's comments about the covid-19 vaccines.  —  Minaj said earlier Monday that she isn't vaccinated yet …

Let's stop pretending Biden's proposed tax increases on the rich are radical  —  Many of the spending items in the reconciliation bill Democrats are negotiating could be described as transformative.  If we had universal pre-K, free community college, paid family leave and enhanced Medicare benefits …

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.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Sent a Message With Her First Met Gala Appearance  —  For her first appearance at the Met Gala, representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had to make a political statement.  It was only right.  And since she was at fashion's glitziest night, surrounded …

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.

China uses anti-fraud app to track access to overseas financial news sites  —  Police identify and question people on back of software meant to prevent online scams  —  Chinese police are using a new anti-fraud app installed on more than 200m mobile phones to identify and question people …

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 Monday that she will be leaving for an undisclosed opportunity.  —  Jennifer Higgins, the current associate director of Refugee …

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Yes, I had one scotch’: Giuliani says he was NOT drunk during rambling September 11th speech at Cipriani, isn't an alcoholic and denies mocking the Queen: Claims he is the victim of a left-wing smear  — Giuliani spoke at Cipriani restaurant in New York City on Saturday night

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 …

GOP condemnation of Biden coronavirus mandate fuels concern other vaccine requirements could be targeted  —  Republicans' sweeping denunciations of President Biden's plan to force more people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus are raising concerns among public health experts …

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.

‘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 …

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) …

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 …

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.

Schools facing critical race theory battles are diversifying rapidly, analysis finds  —  Downingtown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, has been changing.  And the school district has tried to change with it.  —  In 1994, students of color made up just 5 percent of the enrollment in the Downingtown Area School District.

Biden claims ‘first job offer’ from Idaho lumber company, but it's news to them  —  President Biden said at a wildfire-focused event in Idaho Monday that his “first job offer” came from the local lumber and wood-products business Boise Cascade, but the company says it has “no record” of that being true.