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.

US to relax EU and UK travel restrictions for vaccinated passengers  —  Biden administration to announce new travel policy effective from November  —  Vaccinated passengers will be able to travel to the US from the EU and UK from November onwards, the Biden administration will announce on Monday …

This Doc Stoked the COVID Crisis.  These Women Are Paying the Price  —  Here's what happens when you need hospital care but live in a misinformation wasteland, and sick anti-vaxxers are taking up all the beds.  —  Even as the coronavirus pandemic ravages her state of Idaho …

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.

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.

My Going Maskless Is Different, Says San Francisco Mayor, Because ‘I Was Feeling the Spirit’  —  The Mayor of San Francisco says that she shouldn't be criticized for breaking her own COVID rules, because, and I quote, “I was feeling the spirit and I wasn't thinking about a mask.”  CBS reports:

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 …

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 …

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).

This $100,000 Donation by Matt Gaetz Raises All the Eyebrows  —  Rep. Matt Gaetz' largest political donation ever went to a Chris Christie group for a very strange reason that's caught the attention of election law experts.  —  On the day Donald Trump's second impeachment trial began in the Senate …

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 …

Haitian migrants face tough choices in Del Rio amid crackdown at Texas-Mexico border  —  CIUDAD ACUÑA, MEXICO — A mounted U.S. Border Patrol agent shouted commands in a tense encounter with Haitian migrants wading through the Rio Grande near Del Rio, Texas.

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 …

The Case Not Made: A Response to Anne Applebaum's “The New Puritans”  —  All social relations create vulnerabilities and dependencies that are subject to abuse.  This is a fundamental fact about the social nature of humanity, a baseline from which all specific arrangements need to be judged.

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.

Threats against members of Congress are skyrocketing.  It's changing the job  —  A few months ago Rep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona) received an anonymous video of someone following her car.  The camera pans down to a 9mm handgun on the seat as a male voice says: “I see you.  I got something for you.”

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.

The Trump Organization Is Back In Court To Fight Tax Fraud Charges In New York … With multiple investigations still underway, attorneys involved with the tax fraud case against former President Donald Trump's family business and its longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg …