In a Private Dinner, Trump Demanded Loyalty.  Comey Demurred.  —  WASHINGTON — Only seven days after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president, James B. Comey has told associates, the F.B.I. director was summoned to the White House for a one-on-one dinner with the new commander in chief.

Sessions issues sweeping new criminal charging policy  —  Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the sweeping criminal charging policy of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed his federal prosecutors Thursday to charge defendants with the most serious, provable crimes carrying the most severe penalties.

Aetna CEO in private meeting: “Single-payer, I think we should have that debate”  —  A top insurance executive signals openness to government-financed health care.  —  The chief executive of one of the country's largest health insurance companies says he is open to having a single-payer debate.

Republicans misstate, again and again on TV and at town halls, what's in their health-care bill  —  The American Health Care Act that narrowly passed out of the House earlier this month cuts $880 billion from Medicaid — but that won't affect anyone's coverage.

The not-so-viral Comey firing  —  Despite the wall-to-wall media coverage, most Americans — according to Facebook interactions — cared less about James Comey being fired than other big moments so far in the Trump administration.  Social Flow evaluated the Facebook reach of articles …

High school takes back yearbooks with ‘Build that wall,’ other inappropriate quotes  —  ROCKINGHAM, N.C.  —  All of the yearbooks that had been distributed at the Richmond Early College High School near Rockingham have been taken back by the school after some senior quotes were deemed controversial, the school system says.

Why James Comey Had to Go  —  The FBI head's sense of perfect virtue led him to ignore his own enormous conflicts.

The Feds have ‘Trump tapes’ akin to Nixon's ‘Watergate tapes’  —  With President Trump acting increasingly like former President Nixon during the Watergate scandal coverup, there is one similarity between the two scandals that is not receiving the media attention it deserves.

EPA will stop blocking giant Pebble Mine project  —  The EPA and mining firm Pebble Limited Partnership have reached a settlement in their legal dispute over the proposed Pebble Mine near Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska:  — Quick take: Pebble can file permit applications for the project to move forward …

Barry Blitt's “Ejected”  —  “It's probably a bit of a leap,” Barry Blitt says, about his cover of the May 22, 2017, issue.  “James Comey is six feet eight—he probably would have been happy to give up his seat in a cramped cabin.”  —  Françoise Mouly has been the art editor at The New Yorker since 1993.

Trump Administration Announces Deal With China to Boost Exports  —  After months of bashing China for its trade practices, the Trump administration said it had agreed with Beijing on measures aimed at improving the access of American beef producers, electronic-payments providers and natural-gas exporters …

Corrine Brown, ex-congresswoman, found guilty of taking money from fake charity  —  JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After a historic, nearly 25-year career representing Florida in Congress, former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown was found guilty on Thursday of taking money from a charity that was purported to be giving scholarships to poor students.

Conventional Artillery and Nuclear Missiles in North Korea  —  A Game Theory Approach to Credible Threats  —  There has been much discussion of what a Second Korean War might look like.  I think it is misguided.  I am just a game theorist with a bit of Japan expertise …

Trump Official: We ‘Let the Biggest Perpetrator of Fake News into the Oval Office’ … Senior members of the Trump administration are livid that the White House allowed the Russian government to steer the narrative of the president's Wednesday meeting with top Russian diplomats …