A liberal case for Donald Trump: The lesser of two evils is not at all clear in 2016  —  Is there one?  A Trump presidency needn't be a nightmare for the left.  On many issues, Clinton presidency might be  —  There are perhaps no three words more jarring to liberals than “President Donald Trump.”

Will Ferrell pulls out of Reagan Alzheimer's comedy  —  Will Ferrell has backed out of a comedy about Ronald Reagan's struggle with Alzheimer's disease following outrage from the former president's family.  —  The 48-year-old comic confirmed Friday that while he had seen the script …

New poll finds Cruz with double-digit lead in Indiana  —  by double digits in a new poll of Indiana, which hosts the next contest in the GOP presidential primary on Tuesday.  —  The Texas senator leads the real estate mogul 45 percent to 29 percent among registered voters …

Live updates from California Republican Party convention: Trump arrives for lunch speech as protests get more intense  —  Welcome to a special edition of Essential Politics, our live feed from the California Republican Party convention in Burlingame.  Here's a quick glance at the agenda.

Glenn Beck Mocks Donald Trump By Covering His Face With Crushed-Up Cheetos  —  On his radio program yesterday, Glenn Beck and his co-hosts mocked Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump for looking like an “orange racoon” and wondered how he obtained his unnatural hue.

Protests rage outside Trump rally in Orange County; 17 arrested, police car smashed  —  Hundreds of demonstrators filled the street outside the Orange County amphitheater where Donald Trump held a rally Thursday night, stomping on cars, hurling rocks at motorists and forcefully declaring …

Former Alabama governor Don Siegelman sent to solitary confinement  —  Former Alabama governor Don E. Siegelman was sent to solitary confinement this week at the Louisiana facility in which he is imprisoned on political corruption charges, according to his son Joseph Siegelman.

Today, I want to update you on some important progress we've made to protect our communities from gun violence.  As I said in January, these commonsense steps are not going to prevent every tragedy, but what if they prevented even one?  We should be doing everything we can to save lives …

NRCC blasts ‘60 Minutes’ story, hidden cameras  —  The National Republican Congressional Committee Friday accused “60 Minutes” of broadcasting a piece with “largely false information” and Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) of spreading lies on the broadcast— the latest salvo in an increasingly bitter Republican …

11-year-old protects Talladega home against intruder  —  Chris Gaither, 11, shot a home intruder Wednesday morning  —  Home school student Chris Gaither, 11, was alone Wednesday morning when he heard a noise.  —  Someone had broken into his house and walked upstairs.

Obama to attend final White House Correspondents Dinner  —  It is almost time again for the annual gathering of journalists, politicians, athletes and celebrities known inside the Beltway as “nerd prom” — and to the rest of the country as the White House Correspondents Dinner.

If Not Trump, What?  —  Donald Trump now looks set to be the Republican presidential nominee.  So for those of us appalled by this prospect — what are we supposed to do?  —  Well, not what the leaders of the Republican Party are doing.  They're going down meekly and hoping for a quiet convention.

The U.S. Is Sitting on a Mountain of Cheese  —  Move over bacon, we have a new food glut to deal with.  —  When bacon was abundant it was everywhere: in your jam, on seemingly every burger, even flavoring bourbon.  So if history is any guide, this year's food trend should be extra cheese.

Lawmakers reject John Wayne Day over racism concerns  —  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — What a California lawmaker intended as a benign resolution honoring a late, world-renowned movie icon exploded into an emotional debate over decades-old racist comments.  —  The state Assembly defeated …

Weasel Apparently Shuts Down World's Most Powerful Particle Collider  —  A small mammal has sabotaged the world's most powerful scientific instrument.  —  The Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile superconducting machine designed to smash protons together at close to the speed of light, went offline last night.

Ex-nuke manager admits Chinese paid him for secrets … KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A former senior manager for a federal energy agency has admitted that the Chinese government paid him for nuclear technological information while working for the utility, court records unsealed Friday show.

Wrath of the Conned  —  Maybe we need a new cliché: It ain't over until Carly Fiorina sings.  Anyway, it really is over — definitively on the Democratic side, with high probability on the Republican side.  And the results couldn't be more different.  —  Think about where we were a year ago.

Temptations Made a Collar That Finally Gives Your Cat a Human Voice, So It Can Talk to You  —  After all these millennia, a breakthrough?  —  Since the dawn of time, humans have been confounded by cats, those mystifyingly aloof creatures whose inner thoughts are famously inscrutable.  But no longer!