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 travel restrictions for vaccinated foreign passengers  —  Biden administration announces new travel policy effective from November  —  Passengers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to travel to the US from anywhere in the world from November …

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 Washington Post announces the addition of 41 editing roles, including 2 masthead positions … Announcement from Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, Managing Editor Cameron Barr, Managing Editor Tracy Grant, Managing Editor Krissah Thompson, Managing Editor Kat Downs Mulder:  —  Dear Colleagues,

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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.”

Both sides should support Marjorie Taylor Greene's primary challenger  —  Jennifer Strahan wants to do the country a favor.  —  The Georgia businesswoman recently announced that she plans to primary Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia's 14th Congressional District.

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 …

Twitter lashes out over celebrities at 2021 Emmys going maskless  —  Mask on, mask off.  —  The 2021 Emmy Awards were full of colorful ensembles, moving speeches and coveted gold statuettes — but no masks in sight.  —  While 2020's coronavirus had awards shows very scaled down, the party only got bigger this year.

'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 …

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).

Body ‘consistent with description’ of Gabby Petito found in Bridger-Teton National Forest  —  Her boyfriend, named a person of interest, has not been seen since Tuesday.  —  A body “consistent with the description of” Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old woman who went missing while on a cross-country road trip …

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.

Biden administration to write workplace safety rule tackling heat stress  —  The Biden administration announced Monday that it will begin crafting a standard to protect workers from heat as the federal government wrestles with a growing public health threat exacerbated by climate change.

The Big Scary January 6 Solidarity Protest Was Entirely Media Concocted  —  I spent the weekend in Texas with family.  I was completely tuned out of anything political (other than maybe a few retweets that amused me).  I was vaguely aware that there was something that was supposed to be happening …