New study on delta variant reveals importance of receiving both vaccine shots, highlights challenges posed by mutations  —  New laboratory research on the swiftly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus is highlighting the threats posed by viral mutations, adding urgency to calls to accelerate vaccination efforts across the planet.

Lincoln Project scores a win against the ‘Sedition Caucus’ after latest ad targeting Toyota  —  This Thursday, the anti-Trump conservative PAC Lincoln Project released a new ad targeting Toyota for being part of a string of corporations “lavishing massive campaign donations on Republicans …

Tucker Carlson's Extremely Mad That Journalists FOIA'd His FOIA Request to NSA  —  The idea that reporters would use basic journalistic tools to verify his claims about the NSA set Carlson off on Thursday night—and he took specific aim at Ken Klippenstein.  —  Fox News host Tucker Carlson …

Scripps Spelling Bee 2021: Live Updates  —  Zaila Avant-garde spells her way to victory!  —  The last few words were rattled off fast between the two final finalists, Chaitra Thummala and Zaila Avant-garde.  —  First was fewtrils (things of little value), which Chaitra got right.

Citizens, Not the State, Will Enforce New Abortion Law in Texas  —  The measure bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.  And it effectively deputizes ordinary citizens to sue people involved in the process.  —  People across the country may soon be able to sue abortion clinics …

The Christian Right Is in Decline, and It's Taking America With It  —  The presidency of George W. Bush may have been the high point of the modern Christian right's influence in America.  White evangelicals were the largest religious faction in the country.

Trump Organization Indictment May Spell Trouble for Trump Spawn  —  The indictment against the Trump Organization named seven specific companies within the overall business.  Guess who's connected to those companies.  —  The indictment filed last week against the Trump Organization …

Biden to Urge More Scrutiny of Tech Mergers and Data Privacy  —  The order is the president's latest acknowledgment of concerns that the tech giants have obtained outsize market power.  —  WASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday will encourage federal agencies to crack down on the way major …

Biden says US has given Afghans ‘all the tools’ to fend off the Taliban  —  ‘ALL THE TOOLS’: President Joe Biden says the U.S. military is leaving Afghanistan after 20 years, but not before giving the U.S.-backed government in Kabul a well-trained and equipped military that should be more than a match …

Unvaccinated hospitalized patients say they regret not getting the shot … To describe Dr. Ryan Dare as frustrated would be a gross understatement.  —  Dare and his colleagues at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock are dealing with a surge in extremely ill Covid-19 patients …

Two South Florida men were involved in President Moïse's assassination, investigators say  —  Two South Florida men have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse, the Miami Herald has learned.  —  James Solages, of Fort Lauderdale …

Legally, Trump's tech lawsuit is a joke.  But it raises a serious question.  —  Former president Donald Trump's lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been rightly derided as wrong on the facts, preposterous on the law and doomed to be thrown out of court.

Amid growing frustration, White House pushes voting rights  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a call to “save American democracy,” the Biden administration on Thursday unveiled new efforts to help protect voting rights amid growing complaints from civil rights activists and other Democrats …

The Nation That Wouldn't Get Out Of Bed And Go To Work  —  A country of roughly 330 million has more than 9 million job openings, and 9.5 million unemployed.  This is a disgrace, a clear indication that our American character and work ethic are slipping, a rolling tragedy that's been authored by the Democrats.

Progressive Policies Won't Stop the Crime Wave  —  An approach to crime-fighting that scorns policing and incarceration relies on empirical and conceptual errors.  —  Public safety  —  With last year's devastating homicide spike continuing, some proponents of “progressive” …

Too hot to hike?  Yosemite to hit 111 degrees this weekend.  —  The mercury in Yosemite hit 103 degrees Thursday at 2 p.m., and it's still rising.  The national park is forecast to hit 106 degrees today at the start of a heat wave that will broil the U.S. West Coast through Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

Tom Cotton's slimy attack on a ‘critical race theory’ professor is full of holes  —  Sen. Tom Cotton is calling for the firing of a U.S. Air Force Academy professor after she admitted to discussing critical race theory with cadets.  But even a cursory look at the Arkansas Republican's slimy argument shows …

POLITICO-Harvard poll: Most Americans believe Covid leaked from lab  —  Most Americans now believe that the coronavirus leaked from a laboratory in China, according to a new POLITICO-Harvard poll that found a dramatic shift in public perception of Covid-19's origins over the last year.