Inside the room: White House flare-up over McCain leak  —  At yesterday's meeting of the White House communications team — in the wake of a leak from the prior meeting of a callous remark about John McCain's brain cancer — a visibly upset and furious Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told the group …

The Deep State Mob Targets Nunes  —  In an absurd tweet on Wednesday, Lawfare's executive director suggested that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) should be replaced as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee: … That wasn't even the most moronic tweet in Susan Hennessey's arsenal.

Senator Grassley appears to be preparing to bust the frame-up of General Flynn  —  Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the laconic Midwesterner with a steel trap mind, dropped a bombshell yesterday with a letter (the full letter appears below - pdf here) to Deputy A.G. Rod Rosenstein …

Bloomberg warns of ‘epidemic of dishonesty’  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are facing an “epidemic of dishonesty” in Washington that's more dangerous than terrorism or communism.  —  That's according to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who warned in a commencement speech …

Wife hung fake Picasso after taking real thing amid contentious divorce  —  A woman locked in a contentious divorce with her bond-trader husband took a Picasso off his wall — and replaced it with a forgery she made herself.  —  Sue Gross didn't wait until she and Wall Street titan Bill Gross …

Clashing Views on Iran Reflect a New Balance of Power in the Cabinet  —  WASHINGTON — Five days before President Trump pulled out of what he called the “horrible” Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told diplomats from Britain, France and Germany that he believed the pact could still be saved.

When Spies Hack Journalism  —  WASHINGTON — For decades, leakers of confidential information to the press were a genus that included many species: the government worker infuriated by wrongdoing, the ideologue pushing a particular line, the politico out to savage an opponent.

Dinner diplomacy: Netanyahu's unusual run-in with UAE envoy  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Officially, their governments don't speak.  The United Arab Emirates doesn't even formally recognize that Israel exists.  —  But an impromptu bit of dinner diplomacy between Israel's prime minister …

Donald, Eric and this dirty hole: Schneiderman's sins, Trump's tangled web — and don't forget Roger Stone  —  Eric Schneiderman is the latest New York Democrat to hold up the filthy mirror Donald Trump needs, and to drag us with them down the rabbit hole.  —  The state attorney general …

Europe's antitrust cop, Margrethe Vestager, has Facebook and Google in her crosshairs  —  BRUSSELS — Margrethe Vestager is an avid Twitter user who likes to post photos of flowers and cityscapes from her native Denmark.  —  Her account is also a means of tracking her travels …

Two dead in Paris knife attack  —  One person has been killed and five wounded in a knife attack in Paris, French police say.  —  They say the attacker - who has not been identified - was shot dead by police.  Two of the injured are in a serious condition.  —  The incident happened in the Opera district of central Paris.

The public case against Trump  —  One thing is true of all major political scandals: What we know in the moment is but a tiny, obscured, partial view of the full story later revealed by investigators.  —  Why it matters: That's what makes the Trump-Russia drama all the more remarkable.

Greitens' fateful affair began during crossroads of his military life  —  In February 2015, former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens signed a four-year commitment to return to active reserve status.  Two months later, he told the Navy he was backing out of it.  —  What happened in between …

Democrats On Elite Liberal Art College Faculties Outnumber Republicans By 10:1  —  Mitchell Langbert (Brooklyn College), Homogeneous: The Political Affiliations of Elite Liberal Arts College Faculty:  —  In this article I offer new evidence about something readers of Academic Questions already know …

In wide-open 2020 presidential field, Democrats are road-testing messages — and trying to redefine their party  —  The future of the Democratic Party has been booking late night TV gigs, waking up for morning drive-time radio and showing up at watering holes in rural counties to try out new material.

‘Gun-sharing’ station uses art to make point about gun violence  —  (CNN)It's like a bike-sharing station, but with what appear to be AR-15 rifles.  —  No, the “gun-sharing station” in Daley Plaza is not actually real, it's more a symbolic piece of public art.

Salem Media's Effort to Purge Anti-Trump Conservatives Tells You How the Business Really Works  —  Since the very beginning of Donald Trump's takeover of the “conservative” movement, I have been writing about the perfect storm of factors which has caused the “conservative” media to help facilitate this coup.

North Korea details plans to dismantle nuclear test site  —  SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear test site for sometime between May 23 and 25, depending on weather conditions, in order to uphold its pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, the country's state media reported on Saturday.

Hawaii braces for worse lava flows from erupting volcano  —  Handout photo of an ash plume rising from the Overlook Vent in Halema'uma'u crater in Hawaii  —  PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - More destructive lava flows could soon hit Hawaii's Big Island as the Kilauea volcano erupts …

Magnet Implants?  Welcome to the World of Medical Punk  —  “It's not good enough to talk,” says Jeffrey Tibbetts, a registered nurse whose home plays host to Grindfest, an annual meetup of biohackers.  “You should be taking action.  That's kind of our ethos.”  —  By Alice HinesPhotographs by Arden Wray

UN's top nuclear inspector resigns suddenly  —  BERLIN (AP) — The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says its top inspector has quit with immediate effect, just as the agency's work in Iran is once again in focus.  —  The International Atomic Energy Agency didn't give a reason for the sudden resignation …

When a U-Va. alumnus read his Bible on the steps of the Rotunda, the school called police … When a University of Virginia alumnus read aloud from his Bible on the steps of the school's Rotunda this week, university police came to silence him.  —  A police officer approached Bruce Kothmann …