Biden Broke Our Deal With the Taliban  —  It's a foreign-policy humiliation unlike anything our country has endured since the Iran hostage crisis.  —  'The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country [of Afghanistan] is highly unlikely," …

Office Of The Governor Statement Concerning Governor Abbott  —  Office of the Governor Communications Director Mark Miner today issued a statement after Governor Greg Abbott tested positive for COVID-19:  —  “Governor Greg Abbott today tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Taliban strikes conciliatory tone, consolidates power as de facto leader returns to country … At a wide-ranging news conference in Kabul on Tuesday, Taliban leaders in Afghanistan offered conciliatory messages, met with skepticism by experts, promising not to discriminate against women …

The Taliban Have Seized U.S. Military Biometrics Devices … The Taliban have seized U.S. military biometrics devices that could aid in the identification of Afghans who assisted coalition forces, current and former military officials have told The Intercept.

DC Tunnel History Site Flagged Suspicious Activity Before Capitol Insurrection  —  The founder and administrator of an obscure website about underground infrastructure in Washington, D.C., saw a sudden and suspicious spike in traffic in the days before the U.S. Capitol insurrection.

The owner of Politico is said to be seeking $1 billion in a deal with Axel Springer.  —  Politico, the Washington news site popular with Beltway power brokers, is seeking as much as $1 billion in a potential deal with the German publishing giant Axel Springer.

Twitter Says Taliban Spokesman Will be Allowed to Remain if He Doesn't Get Too Violent  —  Twitter is refusing to join its peers in the social-media world in prohibiting the Taliban from using its platform.  —  Asked on Tuesday whether Twitter would join Facebook, TikTok and other tech companies …

How to Actually Get a Trump Voter Vaccinated  —  Woodford County is the second-most-vaccinated county in Kentucky, with a rate 14 points higher than the state as a whole.  It also happens to be firmly in so-called “Trump country”; the county just west of Lexington went for the former president by double digits in 2020.

U.S. Halted Dollar Shipments to Afghanistan to Keep Cash Out of Taliban's Hands  —  U.S. officials are also blocking Taliban from Afghan government accounts managed by the Fed and U.S. banks  —  WASHINGTON—The Biden administration last week canceled bulk shipments of dollars headed …

What I Learned About the United States After Ten Years in Ireland  —  This is an anniversary, of sorts, for me.  I have now lived in Ireland for ten years.  They were ten good years.  During that time, I made some friends and worked with colleagues, who later became friends, and befriended some students, who later befriended me.

UNC Chapel Hill Journalism School Dean Susan King resigning  —  The dean of UNC-Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media is stepping down after nearly a decade leading the school.  —  Susan King announced that this will be her last year as dean in her weekly email newsletter to journalism faculty.

The latest GOP anti-mask lunacy is stirring a backlash.  New polling reveals it.  —  The other day, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis likened mask and other health mandates to “medical authoritarianism.”  The Republican added that we may be witnessing “the most significant threat to freedom in my lifetime …

CNN's Abby Phillip Welcomes First Baby, Daughter Naomi Angelina, with Husband Marcus Richardson  —  Abby Phillip shared her pregnancy news to The Cut back in March  —  This just in: Abby Phillip is officially a mom!  —  The CNN anchor and senior political correspondent, 32 …

FBI joins investigation into QAnon-affiliated leak of voting machine logins in Colorado  —  (CNN)The FBI Denver field office has joined a Colorado district attorney's investigation into the County Clerk's office and how voting machine logins from the county wound up in a QAnon-affiliated video, an FBI spokeswoman told CNN.

Dear Colleague on Passing Budget Resolution to Deliver Once-in-a-Generation Progress For The People  —  Today, President Biden endorsed the House Rule which will allow us to consider the budget resolution, H.R. 4 and the bipartisan infrastructure bill next week.

Rashida Tlaib discloses thousands of dollars in rental income, despite co-sponsoring ‘cancel rent’ bill  —  ‘Squad’ member received between $15K and $50K in rental income last year  —  Homan sounds off on Rashida Tlaib and the ‘Squad’: ‘Name one thing they have done to improve this country’

Bad News  —  In the beginning, there were ABC, NBC, and CBS, and they were good.  Midcentury American man could come home after eight hours of work and turn on his television and know where he stood in relation to his wife, and his children, and his neighbors, and his town, and his country, and his world.

Durham grand jury explores theory someone presented FBI with fabricated evidence in 2016 Russia probe  —  Special counsel John Durham — the prosecutor examining the origins of the FBI's investigation into a possible conspiracy between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign …

As Taliban takes over, some swap iconic AK-47s for made-in-America rifles  —  The Russian Kalashnikov AK-47 and its derivatives have long been the assault rifle of choice for militant groups because of their rugged design, but some Taliban fighters are trading them in for captured U.S. guns as Afghanistan's government collapses.

The Democratic Food-Stamp Boom  —  The average family of four will get more than they spend on food.  —  By The Editorial Board  —  What a telling juxtaposition.  Amid the throes of its Afghanistan retreat, the Biden Administration on Monday announced a giant food-stamp expansion.

UNICEF ‘quite optimistic’ after Taliban comments on girls' education, official says  —  The chief of field operations of the U.N. children's agency expressed cautious optimism about working with Taliban officials following their seizure of power in Afghanistan, citing their early expressions of support for girls' education.