Howard Schultz Doesn't Understand American History  —  The most effective third-party presidential candidates were polarizers, not centrists.  —  Howard Schultz, the former chief executive of Starbucks, cannot win the presidency as an independent candidate.  But is there someone who could?

GOP poised to rebuke Trump  —  Frustrated Republicans say it's time for the Senate to reclaim more power over foreign policy and are planning to move a measure Thursday that would be a stunning rebuke to a president of their own party.  —  GOP lawmakers are deeply concerned …

Feds Seized ‘Several Years’ of Roger Stone's Communications  —  FBI agents seized several years worth of Roger Stone's communications following his arrest last week, prosecutors told a federal judge on Thursday.  In a motion to ask for more time to bring Stone's case to trial …

Why We Are Quitting RedState  —  For more than a decade, RedState was a solid voice in the world of online conservative commentary.  Unfortunately, the allure of Trumpism has left the once great site a shell of its former self.  —  In 2015, before the Republican tide shifted …

‘Whistleblower’ in White House security clearance office gets suspended  —  Tricia Newbold was suspended less than a week after NBC reported Jared Kushner's top secret security clearance was approved over staff objections.  —  WASHINGTON — A White House security specialist …

Bezos' Investigators Question the Brother of His Mistress, Lauren Sanchez, in National Enquirer Leak Probe  —  Michael Sanchez is an outspoken Trump supporter with ties to Roger Stone and Carter Page.  —  Jeff Bezos' top personal security consultant has questioned his mistress' brother …

Virginia lawmaker says she wouldn't have co-sponsored controversial abortion bill if she had read it closely  —  A Virginia lawmaker sent an email to her constituents Wednesday night apologizing for attaching her name to a controversial abortion bill without reading it closely enough.

Trump Considering Herman Cain for Federal Reserve Board, Sources Say  — President interviewed former Godfather's CEO on Wednesday  — Cain's presidential run ended in sexual misconduct scandal  —  Herman Cain, the former pizza company executive who ran for the Republican presidential nomination …

Bernie Sanders to propose dramatic expansion in estate tax on richest Americans, including 77 percent rate on billionaires  —  Sanders's “For the 99.8% Act” would target the wealthiest 0.2 percent of estates.  —  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will unveil a plan Thursday to dramatically expand …

Progressive Dems: ‘Not Another Dollar’ More in DHS Funding  —  Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar just threw a wrench in the border wall debate.  —  Four freshman progressive House members are throwing a wrench into government funding negotiations …

APNewsBreak: ICE force-feeding detainees on hunger strike  —  Federal immigration officials are force-feeding six immigrants through plastic nasal tubes during a hunger strike that's gone on for a month inside a Texas detention facility, The Associated Press has learned.

The 15 Things You Need to Know About Chris Christie's Book  —  Chris Christie's tell-all, Let Me Finish, has now hit shelves, and it's absolutely the second most interesting book about Donald Trump released this week.  —  Is it worth you slogging through the entire 400 pages?  Hard pass.

‘The man who attacked me works in your kitchen’: Victim of serial groper took justice into her own hands  —  Nearly six years ago, on an unseasonably warm April night in Washington, Lauren Clark was cooling down from a jog when she spotted a man in the distance.

Amy Klobuchar may be best equipped to send the president packing  —  Surely the silliest aspirant for the Democrats' 2020 presidential nomination is already known: “ Beto ,” a. k.a.  Robert Francis, O'Rourke is a skateboarding man-child whose fascination with himself caused him to live-stream …

Kyrsten Sinema Is Not Just a Funky Dresser.  She's a Fashion Revolutionary.  —  In July 2017, Democratic women in Congress organized a protest against the enforcement of an “appropriate attire” dress code that was being used to keep reporters in sleeveless outfits out of certain parts of the Capitol building.

State: All 366 on local list of potential noncitizen voters are citizens  —  By the time local elections officials downloaded a list of 366 registered voters the Texas Secretary of State's Office initially said may not be citizens, the office had called to tell them to disregard the list, Elections Administrator Kathy Van Wolfe said.

Trump Allies Think Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Hiding or Dead.  It Started on QAnon.  —  She's kept a low profile while recovering from cancer surgery.  Right-wing sickos turned that against the liberal Supreme Court justice.  —  Top figures in the pro-Trump media are claiming Supreme Court …

Until this week, Del. Kathy Tran was known for nursing her daughter on the House floor.  Now Republicans are calling her a baby killer.  —  Del. Kathy Tran arrived in Richmond last year as part of a wave of Democratic women whose electoral victories in Northern Virginia leveled the balance of power in the General Assembly.

Michael Bloomberg's Secret Plans to Take Down Trump  —  Michael Bloomberg has bigger plans for 2020 than running for president.  The billionaire and former New York City mayor has been openly dreaming of the White House for 25 years, and spent huge amounts of time and money four times …

The Six Forms of Media Bias  —  A media critic inveighs against the bias toward centrism, which inspires me to come up with my own list.  —  “Impartiality is still a value worth defending in mainstream news coverage,” writes Margaret Sullivan, the Washington Post media critic.

Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior From Iran  —  Today we removed multiple Pages, groups and accounts that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram.  This activity was directed from Iran, in some cases repurposing Iranian state media content …

One Lawyer, 194 Felony Cases and No Time  —  On April 27, 2017, Jack Talaska, a lawyer for the poor in Lafayette, La., had 194 felony cases.  —  113 clients had been formally charged.  The rest are not pictured.  —  High-level felonies carry sentences of 10 years or more and should each …

Who's Ahead in the Race to Beat Trump? … Jan. 31, 2019 … This week on “The Argument,” a debate over who is leading the 2020 Democratic primary in its nascent state.  Jamelle Bouie, The Times's newest Opinion columnist, joins his colleagues to discuss declared and potential candidates hoping to win the presidency.

2018 U.S. midterm elections review  —  Today, we're sharing a comprehensive review of our efforts to protect the integrity of the public conversation on Twitter regarding the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.  —  The public conversation occuring on Twitter is never more important than during elections.

What an Old Watergate Document Can Teach the House Judiciary Committee  —  The chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary faced a vexing problem: Pressure for impeachment was building, but while lots of evidence against the president was public, key pieces of it were not.

If Marie Kondo wants to tidy something, she should start with Netflix … I don't want to see Marie Kondo's sock drawer.  I want to see her Netflix account.  Or her Amazon Prime Video watchlist.  Or her DVR queue.  —  Because these days, that's where the real clutter crisis can be found.

White House preps emergency wall plan while Congress negotiates  —  Congress has until Feb. 15 to discuss a border security deal, but the White House is already finalizing its plan B — declaring a national emergency.  —  The White House is finalizing details of a potential national emergency declaration …

Over 3,000 more US troops headed to southern border  —  (CNN)Over 3,000 additional active duty troops will be deployed to the southern US border to bolster security joining the 2,300 troops already there, several defense officials tell CNN.  —  The additional forces will allow the Department …