No More Apologies: Inside Facebook's Push to Defend Its Image  —  Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive, has signed off on an effort to show users pro-Facebook stories and to distance himself from scandals.  —  Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, signed off last month on a new initiative code-named Project Amplify.

Trump Sues NYT and Niece—Who Calls Him ‘F*cking Loser’  —  The ex-president claims there was an “insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records.” … Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, three of its reporters, and his niece …

Trump Campaign Knew Lawyers' Voting Machine Claims Were Baseless, Memo Shows  —  Days before lawyers allied with Donald Trump gave a news conference promoting election conspiracy theories, his campaign had determined that many of those claims were false, court filings reveal.

ICE officers injured by Haitian migrants after deportation flights land in Port-au-Prince  —  The Biden administration has increased deportation flights to Haiti  —  Texas DPS stepping in to process immigrants who trespass on ranchers' land  —  A number of Haitian migrants who had been deported …

Political journalists are both-siding a “crisis” caused entirely by the GOP  —  Republican congressional leaders are flagrantly ginning up a major political and financial crisis — safe in the knowledge that the Washington press corps will blame both sides.  —  At issue is a formality …

New FL surgeon general opposes mask, vaccine mandates  —  Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a new surgeon general for Florida on Tuesday, a Harvard-trained doctor who advocated for an approach to the coronavirus pandemic that emphasizes protecting individual rights over community-based precautions.

Graham tries to help Trump and McConnell bury the hatchet  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has told colleagues that former President Trump has conceded in recent private conversations that Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) “helped” him during his four years in office, even as the former president rails against the Republican leader in public.

Equitable Research Requires Questioning the Status Quo  —  Research is a powerful tool to determine fact from fiction.  Policies, programs, and solutions are grounded in these facts, making researchers agents for shaping how the world works.  —  However, long-standing values and practices rooted in racism …

The Great and Good Angelo Codevilla  —  In memoriam  —  All of us in the Claremont Institute extended family were gutted this morning by the news of Angelo Codevilla's death.  He was on his way home yesterday to his beloved vineyard in Plymouth, California, when some kind of car accident occurred.

Liz Cheney's Re-Election Bid Pits Trump Against Bush  —  George W. Bush to hold fundraiser for Wyoming congresswoman who has sparred with Donald Trump  —  WASHINGTON—The race for Wyoming's single U.S. House district has pitted two of the biggest names in Republican politics against one another …

Wuhan scientists planned to release coronaviruses into cave bats 18 months before outbreak  —  Leaked documents reveal researchers applied for $14m to fund controversial project in 2018  —  Wuhan scientists were planning to release enhanced airborne coronaviruses into Chinese bat populations …

Postcard from an overrun ICU: ‘The problem is we are running out of hallways’  —  BILLINGS — Nurses fill the hospital room to turn a patient from his stomach to his back.  The ventilator forcing air into him is most effective when he's on his stomach, so he is in that position most hours of the day, sedated and paralyzed by drugs.

Boris Johnson admits he has six children  —  Prime minister, previously coy about his complex family life, answers interviewer during US visit  —  Boris Johnson has admitted for the first time that he has six children, claiming in an interview on US television that he “changes a lot of nappies”.

Huge hack reveals embarrassing details of who's behind Proud Boys and other far-right websites  —  Researchers say it will allow them to gain important new insights into how extremists operate online  —  Epik long has been the favorite Internet company of the far-right …

Why Sane Republicans Are Purging Themselves  —  Anthony Gonzalez leaves no doubt about what he thinks about Donald Trump and his impact on the GOP.  The former president, he says, is like a “cancer,” and he has turned his party into a toxic and hostile environment.

Russian hackers target Iowa grain co-op in $5.9 million ransomware attack  —  Cybercrime cell BlackMatter threatened to release New Cooperative's proprietary business data unless it paid up  —  Russian hackers leveled a ransomware attack on an Iowa farming co-op and demanded $5.9 million …

Politico: Biden's domestic agenda near collapse — and Dems know it  —  A trillion here, a trillion there, and sooner or later people start noticing the math doesn't add up.  Enough people have noticed this about Joe Biden's expansive and expensive domestic agenda to put the entire enterprise on the verge of collapse.

Moderate Democrats not monolithic about their budget concerns  —  A group of centrist House Democrats is united in ensuring the chamber won't vote on a reconciliation package unless it can pass the Senate.  But they have individual policy priorities that could divide them on the final product.

New Zealand Covid: Men caught smuggling KFC into lockdown-hit Auckland  —  NZ police have made a bizarre arrest after a pair of alleged gang associates were caught trying to enter Auckland with a boot full of KFC chicken and tens of thousands of dollars.  —  The men were charged with breaching the country's tough Covid-19 rules.

Supreme Court Approval Drops as New Term Brings Divisive Issues  — Polls finds public approval at 49%, down from 66% last year  — Court to hear abortion, gun cases in term that starts Oct. 4  —  As the U.S. Supreme Court nears the start of a term that will pose fresh challenges …

Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Chucri resigns after election-related recording released  —  Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Chucri announced he will resign after a recording of him talking about the 2020 election and his county colleagues surfaced.  —  In the leaked recording …

Their Baby Died in the Hospital.  Then Came the $257,000 Bill.  —  A New York family had good health insurance.  But the bills for their daughter's care started showing up and kept coming.  —  Brittany Giroux Lane gave birth to her daughter, Alexandra, a few days before Christmas in 2018.

What Does Evergrande Meltdown Mean for China? … Policymakers in Beijing are in a tough position on what to do about Evergrande, the Chinese property developer whose slow collapse has transfixed the markets.  Evergrande is the most-indebted property developer in the world.

Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns  —  Lithuania's Defense Ministry recommended that consumers avoid buying Chinese mobile phones and advised people to throw away the ones they have now after a government report found the devices had built-in censorship capabilities.

Why Texas Abortion Opponents Aren't Suing Dr. Alan Braid Over New Law  —  Physician who said he is first to violate new restrictions doesn't present appealing case for conservative groups, legal scholars say  —  As Texas' abortion ban was set to take effect Sept. 1, the state's largest …

Afghan Resistance Leaders, Long Backed By CIA, Have Fled Following Taliban Takeover  —  The son of Afghanistan's most celebrated anti-Taliban resistance leader has escaped into neighboring Tajikistan, less than a month after vowing to defend his homeland “no matter what happens.”