A note to readers  —  I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months.  I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I'm afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.  —  In August of last year, I underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in my abdomen.

CNN's Anthony Bourdain dead at 61  —  New York (CNN)Anthony Bourdain, a gifted storyteller and writer who took CNN viewers around the world, has died.  He was 61.  —  CNN confirmed Bourdain's death on Friday and said the cause of death was suicide.  —  “It is with extraordinary sadness …

The Era of American Complacency on Trade Is Over  —  President Trump arrived at the Group of 7 summit meeting in Canada on Friday amid an expression of “concern and disappointment” from the six other nations' finance ministers over United States trade policies.

China hacked a Navy contractor and secured a trove of highly sensitive data on submarine warfare  —  Chinese government hackers have compromised the computers of a Navy contractor, stealing massive amounts of highly sensitive data related to undersea warfare — including secret plans to develop …

Mueller Adds Obstruction Charge on Manafort and Indicts His Right-Hand Man  —  WASHINGTON — The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, brought new obstruction charges on Friday against President Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and added allegations against a close associate …

Adam Putnam's office stopped concealed weapons background checks for a year because it couldn't log in  —  A state investigation found that the lapse covered a period that included the biggest spike in permit applications in Florida history.  —  For more than a year, the state of Florida failed …

Trump says he is likely to support ending federal ban on marijuana … President Trump said he likely will support a congressional effort to end the federal ban on marijuana, a major step that would reshape the pot industry and end the threat of a Justice Department crackdown.

Trump will ask athletes who kneel during anthem to recommend people for pardoning  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump says he wants to meet with NFL players and athletes who kneel during the National Anthem so they can recommend people they think should be pardoned because they were treated unfairly by the justice system.

I'm A US-Born Army Vet.  Why Did Border Patrol Just Try To Arrest Me And My Wife?  —  Editor's note: Before publication, Task & Purpose reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for a comment on the experiences Dennis White recounts below.  A representative of the agency responded …

John Kelly Instructed DHS Official Not To Email Staff To Avoid Public Scrutiny  —  “FOIA is real and everyday here in the cesspool, and even federal court action on personal accounts is real.”  —  When John Kelly was Secretary of Homeland Security, he instructed an official to refrain …

Facebook Gave Some Companies Access to Additional Data About Users' Friends  —  Special deals gave a small number of companies access to data after shutting off access for other developers  —  Facebook Inc. FB 0.49% struck customized data-sharing deals with a select group of companies …

We've Got a Problem.  A Big Problem.  —  There are certain frameworks and situations in the law in which it does not matter why something happened, it simply matters that something has demonstrably happened, to establish the point, making the finding or act.

EXCLUSIVE: BuzzFeed Confirms It Knew About Ali Watkins' Relationship With Indicted Senate Official  —  Questions remain over whether BuzzFeed News acted ethically with a former employee, Ali Watkins, who had a romantic relationship with an indicted former security director for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Iran Admits To Facilitating 9/11 Terror Attacks  —  Top Iranian official admits for first time Iran aided al Qaeda terrorists  —  Iranian officials, in a first, have admitted to facilitating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. by secretly aiding the free travel of al Qaeda operatives …

Canada warns immigrants in U.S. about heading north of the border  —  MIAMI — As President Trump travels north to Canada to attend the G7 summit, Canadian officials have been heading south to try to stem a wave of undocumented immigrants headed their way.  —  In what has become …

Jury Convicts Former CIA Officer of Espionage  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal jury convicted a former Central Intelligence Agency case officer today on espionage charges related to his transmission of classified documents to an agent of the People's Republic of China.

Trump's latest health care move squeezes Republicans  —  Striking protections for pre-existing conditions renews a fraught repeal fight.  —  Republicans who have tried to repeal Obamacare for nearly a decade believe the Trump administration is reviving a politically risky battle with a court filing …

De Niro tells award-winning high schoolers that Trump is spreading ‘bulls-t’  —  Robert De Niro used a Thursday awards ceremony honoring high-school writers to accuse President Trump of spreading “bulls-t.”  —  The “Raging Bull” actor bashed the president while praising the winners …

Bourdain  —  I've had a leasehold on davidsimon.com for years now.  People smarter than I am told me that even if I had no sense of its use at present, I should throw a few shekels down in case.  But until recently, I saw no reason to do much of anything with the site.  —  My ambivalence rests on a couple basic ideas:

Pelosi scoffs at strong US consumer confidence figures  —  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday resumed her attacks against President Donald Trump, this time criticizing the nation's nearly 18-year high in consumer confidence under the president's leadership.

Exclusive: Nearly 1,800 families separated at U.S.-Mexico border in 17 months through February  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 1,800 immigrant families were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border from October 2016 through February of this year, according to a senior government official …