Scoop - Manchin: Delay Biden plan to '22  —  Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is privately saying he thinks Congress should take a “strategic pause” until 2022 before voting on President Biden's $3.5 trillion social-spending package, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

Covid Vaccine Prompts Strong Immune Response in Younger Children, Pfizer Says  —  Vaccinated kids aged 5 to 11 showed evidence of protection against the virus, the company said.  The data must be reviewed by the F.D.A. before children can be inoculated.  —  The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine …

Tate Reeves and the high cost of covid incompetence  —  When naming the poster child for irresponsible leadership on covid-19, there are plenty of governors to choose from.  You could make a strong case for South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

The Indictment of Hillary Clinton's Lawyer is an Indictment of the Russiagate Wing of U.S. Media  —  The DOJ's new charging document, approved by Biden's Attorney General, sheds bright light onto the Russiagate fraud and how journalistic corruption was key.  —  A lawyer for Hillary Clinton's …

How the U.S. Helped, and Hampered, the Escape of Afghan Journalists  —  The secretary of state cites a “massive effort” by the government, but people involved in the evacuation instead describe bureaucratic snags.  —  As American news organizations scrambled to evacuate their Afghan journalists …

Eric Adams' Townhouse Trouble: Tax Filing ‘Mistake’ and Blown-Off Buildings Inspector  —  Campaign says mayoral nominee will amend tax returns for a second time after THE CITY pointed out irregularities concerning filings on his Bed-Stuy residence.  Adams also overlooked …

'It's spreading': Phony election fraud conspiracies infect midterms  —  It started as one big, false claim — that the election was stolen from Donald Trump.  —  But nearly a year later, the Big Lie is metastasizing, with Republicans throughout the country raising the specter of rigged elections …

Meet Manchin's K Street whisperers  —  Salutations, Early birds.  Tips, comments, recipes?  Send them to earlytips@washpost.com and we'll post the best gastronomic delight that comes our way.  —  🚨: President Biden seeks a phone call with Emmanuel Macron as the U.N. General Assembly starts tomorrow.

Ignoring Haitians' humanity exposes Biden's broken promise — and a looming crisis  —  They seemed to come out of literally nowhere and then they just kept coming — Haitian refugees, suddenly crammed by the thousands in the shade under a highway overpass in Del Rio, Texas …

Peter Thiel's Origin Story His ideology dominates Silicon Valley.  It began to form when he was an angry young man.  —  Sometime around the spring of 1988, several members of the Stanford University chess team traveled to a tournament in Monterey, California, in an old Volkswagen Rabbit.

In the Heart of Nashville, Rolling Parties Rage at Every Stoplight  —  As Nashville's popularity has grown, so has the “transportainment” business — a motley assortment including old buses, farm tractors and a truck with a hot tub.  Many think it has gotten out of hand.

Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee personally vetted Trump's fraud claims, new book says.  They were unpersuaded.  —  “Peril,” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, reveals the lengths the two Republicans went to in examining the president's baseless claims.  —  Sen. Lindsey O. Graham agreed to hear Rudolph W. Giuliani out.

After 20 years of waging religious guerrilla warfare, Taliban fighters in Kabul say they miss the battle  —  KABUL — Since celebrating the fall of Kabul a month ago, after years of waging a holy war to overthrow the U.S.-backed government, the 250 Taliban fighters under Abdulrahman Nifiz's command …

Gabby Petito's Disappearance: a Timeline  —  The authorities said they had found human remains in Wyoming consistent with a description of Gabrielle Petito, 22.  The search continues for her fiancé, Brian Laundrie.  —  Here's what you need to know:

The Afghanistization of America  —  We are doing our best to become a Third-World country of incompetency, constitutional erosion, a fractious and politicized military elite, and racially and ethnically obsessed warring tribes.  —  The United States should be at its pinnacle of strength.

Bats in Laos Caves Harbor Closest Relatives to Covid-19 Virus  — Pasteur Institute scientists tested hundreds of horseshoe bats  — Finding moves researchers closer to pinpointing Covid origins  —  Bats dwelling in limestone caves in northern Laos were found to carry coronaviruses …

The Democrats War on Blacks Keeps Growing in the Pandemic  —  One of the key reasons I left the Democratic Party years ago was the atrocious way they treated black people.  —  I'm not just talking about “Jim Crow” or LBJ's well-known patriarchal and racist use of the “n-word” …

Trump won these counties big.  His supporters question the results there, too.  —  Former President Donald Trump won Mesa County, Colorado, by 28 points in last fall's election.  —  In Barry County, Michigan, he won by more than 32 points.  And in Lander County, Nevada, his victory was in excess of 61 points.