What Do Jotted Talking Points Say About Trump's Empathy?  —  WASHINGTON — For more than an hour on Wednesday, President Trump listened quietly to entreaties for action, personal stories of grief and loss, and expressions of raw anger, clutching a white notecard with talking points written on it.

Gov. Greitens indicted for felony invasion of privacy stemming from affair  —  Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted Thursday afternoon by a St. Louis grand jury on a felony charge of invasion of privacy.  —  The charge stems from a 2015 affair and allegations that he threatened to release …

Sources: Ex-Trump Staffer Rick Gates to Drop His Lawyer in Russia Probe … Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates has fired his lawyer, The Daily Beast has learned.  And, contrary to recent media reports, Gates is not about to make a deal with the Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources familiar with the matter.

In rare move, national Democrats come out against primary candidate Laura Moser in bid for Culberson's seat  —  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Thursday posted negative research on Democratic congressional hopeful Laura Moser, one of seven Democrats vying to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. John Culberson.

The Gun-Control Debate Could Break America  —  A rage more personal than political exists on both sides, and poses real danger to the ties that bind us as a nation.  —  Last night, the nation witnessed what looked a lot like an extended version of the famous “two minutes hate” from George Orwell's novel 1984.

Putin ally said to be in touch with Kremlin, Assad before his mercenaries attacked U.S. troops … A Russian oligarch believed to control the Russian mercenaries who attacked U.S. troops and their allies in Syria this month was in close touch with Kremlin and ­Syrian officials in the days …

Sources: Mueller probe stymies Kushner security clearance  —  Washington (CNN)Jared Kushner has been unable to obtain a full security clearance in part because of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

An Epidemic of Dishonesty on the Right  —  Enough with the rancid conspiracy theories  —  First it was the Holocaust, now Parkland — is there any act of depravity to which the less respectable right-wing media cannot imagine a connection for George Soros?

What Ever Happened To Brendan Fraser?  —  GQ's Zach Baron reports on the stupendous rise and surprising disappearance of the once ubiquitous movie star.  —  Brendan Fraser wants me to meet his horse.  “I got this horse because it's a big horse,” he says, standing in a barn in Bedford, New York.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Will Remove “Nation of Immigrants” From Mission Statement  —  The lead U.S. agency tasked with granting citizenship to would-be Americans is making a major change to its mission statement, removing a passage that describes the United States as a nation of immigrants.

Exclusive: U.S. official focused on election security being shoved aside  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of a federal agency who has helped U.S. states protect election systems from possible cyber attacks by Russia or others is being removed from his post by Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House.

Gov. Rauner drinks chocolate milk to demonstrate his commitment to diversity  —  In an awkward onstage appearance this week, Gov. Bruce Rauner drank a glass of chocolate milk to demonstrate his belief in diversity.  —  “It's really, really good,” Rauner said after taking a sip of the sugary drink.

‘They have had it’: West Virginia teachers strike, closing all public schools … Teachers across West Virginia walked off the job Thursday amid a dispute over pay and benefits, causing more than 277,000 public school students to miss classes even as educators swarmed the state Capitol in Charleston to protest.

McCain associate invokes Fifth Amendment on Trump dossier sources: report  —  (R-Ariz.) invoked the Fifth Amendment in order to not testify before the House Intelligence Committee on the unverified Trump-Russia dossier, according to Fox News.  —  The committee originally issued a subpoena …