Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel resigns after Halloween blackface photos emerge  —  Michael Ertel, the newly appointed Secretary of State of Gov. Ron DeSantis, has resigned after photos emerged of him posing as a Hurricane Katrina victim in blackface at a private Halloween party 14 years ago.

Elizabeth Warren to propose new ‘wealth tax’ on very rich Americans, economist says  —  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will propose a new “wealth tax” on Americans with more than $50 million in assets, according to an economist advising her on the plan, as Democratic leaders vie …

Michael Cohen subpoenaed by Senate Intelligence committee  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was subpoenaed Thursday to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in mid-February, according to a source close to Cohen.  —  It is not clear how Cohen will respond.

Wilbur Ross doesn't understand why furloughed federal workers need food banks  —  Commerce secretary suggests they should be able to take out bridge loans  —  Chuck Grassley reminds U.S. Olympic Committee about requirements for its tax exemption Senate sets up Thursday test votes on ending shutdown …

Pelosi: No Dem counteroffer on border security  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that House Democrats are not working behind the scenes to craft a counteroffer to President Trump's border wall demands as a strategy for ending the history-making partial shutdown.  —  “That's not true.

Venezuela's Military Backs Maduro  —  Announcement comes a day after Juan Guaidó, head of the national assembly, declared himself president  —  Venezuela's military on Thursday threw its support behind embattled President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday, a day after the head …

Six GOP Senators Buck Trump As Competing Shutdown Measures Fail  —  A pair of competing Senate bills to reopen the government failed to pass on Thursday, the latest non-starter attempts to fall short as the government shutdown stretches into its 34th day.  But a half-dozen Republicans defected …

Skripal poisoning: Trump admin yet to impose new Russia sanctions required by law  —  The European Union punished 4 Russians this week in connection with the Skripal poisoning, but the U.S. hasn't moved forward with its own penalties.  —  WASHINGTON — Nearly three months after deeming Russia …

Trump's Disney Robot Obsession and Anthony Scaramucci's Dick Joke: Scenes From a White House Insider  —  They are who we thought they were.  —  Shortly after Donald Trump's election, a Disney crew was dispatched to the White House to record the new president's voice, which would be played through …

Sen. Cory Gardner to break with Republicans on Trump's wall — it's the right thing to do  —  Colorado senator's spokesman says Gardner intends to vote for clean funding bill that would open the government with no border-security strings attached.  —  Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner's …

Fox News Poll: Voters see shutdown as bigger problem than border situation  —  Most voters consider the partial government shutdown a major problem or, even worse, an emergency, according to a new Fox News Poll.  —  After a 33-day stalemate over the funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall …

The Unfinished Business of Bernie Sanders  —  He went from the rumpled bit player of the progressive movement to a legit presidential candidate and liberal kingmaker.  But now that Sanders wields such enormous power in Democratic politics, the question is, what's he going to do with it?

Shoot Someone In A Major US City, And Odds Are You'll Get Away With It  —  A shocking number of shootings go unsolved.  In some police departments, hundreds of cases aren't investigated at all.  A joint investigation by The Trace and BuzzFeed News. … Devon Little was shot …

Nathan Phillips is a liar, not a victim  —  Days after Nathan Phillips' story of his confrontation with a group of students in Washington was thoroughly discredited, many on the left are still rallying behind him, pretending he was somehow a victim.  —  This, even after both the New York Times …

CNN's Jim Acosta is writing a book about Trump's war with the media  —  New York (CNN)CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is authoring a book about the Trump administration and its battles with the news media.  —  The Harper imprint of HarperCollins Publishers announced the book on Thursday morning.

This Time It's Russia's Emails Getting Leaked  —  The Russian oligarchs and Kremlin apparatchiks spared by Wikileaks in the past will not be so lucky this week, when transparency activists drop a massive archive of leaked docs.  —  Russian oligarchs and Kremlin apparatchiks may find …

California Republican Party gets even smaller: A GOP lawmaker defects to the Democrats  —  California Republicans suffered yet another loss Thursday when one of their Assembly members defected to the Democrats.  —  Democrats celebrated with a victorious news conference Thursday morning …

Why do people such as Lindsey Graham come to Congress?  —  Back in the day, small rural airports had textile windsocks, simple and empty things that indicated which way the wind was blowing.  The ubiquitous Sen. Lindsey O. Graham has become a political windsock, and as such, he …

4 girls allegedly strip searched at middle school  —  BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) — A community firestorm has erupted over an alleged strip search of four 12-year-old girls at a New York middle school.  —  The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin says about 200 community members packed …

We Followed YouTube's Recommendation Algorithm Down The Rabbit Hole  —  How many clicks through YouTube's “Up Next” recommendations does it take to go from an anodyne PBS clip about the 116th United States Congress to an anti-immigrant video from a designated hate organization?

AOC Thinks Concentrated Wealth Is Incompatible With Democracy.  So Did Our Founders.  —  In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville produced one of the earliest accounts of the American dream.  In his famous study of the Jacksonian U.S., the Frenchman wrote that Americans possessed “the charm of anticipated success” …

Group launches ‘Draft Ann Coulter’ for president  —  A political action committee that pushes for stricter immigration controls said Thursday it is launching a campaign to draft conservative writer Ann Coulter to challenge President Trump.  —  Americans for Legal Immigration PAC has been among …

Sen. Michael Bennet slams Ted Cruz for ‘crocodile tears’ over the shutdown  —  Sen. Michael F. Bennet, typically a mild-mannered, congenial guy, on Thursday unleashed all of his furor over the partial government shutdown on Sen. Ted Cruz.  —  In a fiery exchange that played …

The political scientist Donald Trump should read  —  What Trump would do if he really wanted his wall.  —  It's not often I run across political science that genuinely changes my understanding of how American politics works.  But Frances Lee's research has done exactly that.  Twice.

Ocasio-Cortez's misfired facts on living wage and minimum wage  —  “I think it's wrong that a vast majority of the country doesn't make a living wage, I think it's wrong that you can work 100 hours and not feed your kids.  I think it's wrong that corporations like Walmart and Amazon can get paid …

Older, right-leaning Twitter users spread the most fake news in 2016, study finds  —  The notion that fake news exists in its own universe turns out to be doubly true: One universe is the realm outside truth.  The other is its own seedy pocket of social media.

Exclusive: U.S. to begin returning asylum seekers to Mexico on Friday - official  —  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States will return the first group of migrants seeking asylum in the United States to the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Friday, a spokesman for Mexico's president said on Thursday.

‘Trump will handle this’: Florida man tried to force Iraqi family out of his neighborhood, police say  —  David Allen Boileau kept saying, “the U.S. needs to get rid of all of them,” meaning Middle Easterners, according to police, but for the time being he was focused on getting rid of the neighbors.

Is it time for journalists to sign off Twitter?  —  New York (CNN Business)A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter.  You can sign up for free right here.  —  “Never tweet.”  —  Sometimes the insanity on Twitter makes my brain hurt.  Sometimes the hatred makes my heart ache.