Every Day Is a New Low in Trump's White House  —  The president steps over bright ethical and moral lines wherever he encounters them.  Everyone in America saw it when he fired my boss.  But I saw it firsthand time and time again. … On Wednesday, May 10, 2017, my first full day on the job …

The Ocasio-Cortez Effect: Wave of Challenges Hits Entrenched N.Y. Democrats  —  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be just the beginning.  —  Less than eight months after Ms. Ocasio-Cortez stunned the political world by unseating a powerful Democratic congressman, her home state is emerging …

Trump's DHS Guts Task Forces Protecting Elections From Foreign Meddling  —  “It's very curious why the leadership has not committed resources to prepare for the 2020 election,” one DHS official tells The Daily Beast.  —  Two teams of federal officials assembled to fight foreign election interference …

Trump Puts Best Face on Border Deal, as Aides Try to Assuage an Angry Right  —  WASHINGTON — In pursuit of a wall, President Trump ran into one.  A single-minded drive to force Congress to finance his signature campaign promise has left Mr. Trump right back where he started …

Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus  —  Amazon said on Thursday that it was canceling plans to build a corporate campus in New York City.  The company had planned to build a sprawling complex in Long Island City, Queens, in exchange for nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Isn't Looking to Retire Yet, But Is Another Supreme Court Justice Ready to Go?  —  No one tells a Supreme Court Justice when to retire.  But there are currently two retirement dramas under way at the Court—one semi-public and the other semi-private …

The three 2020 Democrats Trump's campaign is watching most closely  —  Donald Trump's political advisers are homing in on three declared Democratic candidates who they believe are the most viable at this early stage of the campaign.  —  The reelection campaign has begun compiling opposition research …

Third Suspect in Skripal Poisoning Identified as Denis Sergeev, High-Ranking GRU Officer  —  Bellingcat previously confirmed that a third GRU officer was present in the UK during the time Sergey and Yulia Skripal fell into a coma, after what the UK authorities said was a deliberate poisoning with Novichok.

Mueller just caught a fourth Trump aide lying about contact with the Russians  —  This post has been updated.  —  We don't know whether special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has found evidence of collusion or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh eyewitness accounts of the incident involving Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Publisher John Robinson Block  —  After much careful consideration, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh has decided to release some of the eyewitness accounts of the incident involving Pittsburgh …

Anti-Vaccine Facebook Ads Target Women in Measles-Stricken States  —  Nearly 150 spots are targeting women over the age of 25—the group most likely to include mothers of children who might need to be vaccinated.  —  BEAST INSIDE … Facebook's advertising platform is being used …

Worried Texas Republicans call for more national help in 2020  —  Texas Republicans have long coasted to re-election while ignoring their Democratic opponents.  Not anymore.  —  For 2020, GOP incumbents in what has historically been one of the most solidly red states in the union …

‘He was in his face’: Trump fumes over abortion, courts evangelicals  —  The night before last week's National Prayer Breakfast, President Donald Trump was hosting religious leaders and lawmakers for dinner at the White House when he spotted Democratic Senator Chris Coons — and pounced.

Trump Looks to Uproot Numbers-Only Bias Test Widely Used in U.S.  —  In what would be one of the Trump administration's most far-reaching moves regarding race relations, top White House officials are planning a sharp pullback from federal efforts to correct imbalances in outcomes for minorities in everything from housing to hiring.

‘Whistleblower’ seeks protection after sounding alarm over White House security clearances  —  Tricia Newbold says her supervisor “repeatedly mishandled security files and has approved unwarranted security clearances.”  —  Specialist in White House security clearance office suspended without pay

Kansas lawmakers sponsor bill calling same-sex marriages ‘parody’  —  The House chamber at the Statehouse in Topeka  —  A handful of Kansas lawmakers are backing a bill that labels same-sex marriages “parody marriages” and seeks to stop the state from recognizing them.

Silicon Valley Index shows the misery and triumph of the world's tech capital … Living at the center of the tech universe?  Well, I have some good news and some bad news.  —  The good news is that Silicon Valley is thriving economically, generating new technology and good jobs.

Michael Avenatti accused of hiding millions of dollars from bankruptcy court  —  Michael Avenatti hid millions of dollars from the court overseeing his law firm's bankruptcy and used much of the money for personal compensation, a former partner alleges in new court records.

Are Russian Trolls Saving Measles From Extinction?  —  Scientific researchers say Russian social-media trolls who spread discord before the 2016 U.S. presidential election may also have played an unintended role in a developing global health crisis.  —  They say the trolls may have contributed …

Nearly half of Republicans think God wanted Trump to be president  —  More than half of white evangelical Protestants agree  —  White House press secretary Sarah Sanders kicked up a bit of dust recently when she told the Christian television network CBN that she believed that God wanted Donald Trump to be president.

A remembrance of the victims from the Parkland shooting — as told by their classmates  —  BY STUDENTS OF MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD  —  Twelve months ago, 14 students and three adults were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland.  On Valentine's Day.

Virginia Democratic Candidate Apologizes to Jewish Community for Past Statements  —  Coming on the heels of Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-Minn.) anti-Semitic statements and subsequent apology, another Democratic politician was forced to apologize for vitriolic statements about Israel.

Daughter and son-in-law of AG nominee leaving the Justice Department  —  Washington (CNN)The Barr family business is breaking up.  —  As William Barr, President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee, awaits a Senate vote to confirm his move to the top of the Justice Department …

House Democrats may target Ivanka Trump in their Russia probe  —  Outlining a blueprint for the vast Russia probe planned by the new House majority, a Democratic member of Congress suggested at a roundtable with reporters this week that lawmakers may seek testimony from Ivanka Trump.

Ryan Adams Dangled Success.  Women Say They Paid a Price.  —  Several women say Adams offered to jumpstart their music careers, then pursued them sexually and in some cases retaliated when they spurned him.  He denies the claims.  —  For nearly two decades, Ryan Adams …

Has Trump wrecked our sex life?  “Post-Trump Sex Disorder” is real, says sex therapist  —  “Big Mean Sexy Daddy”?  Salon turns to Dr. Susan Block for answers to questions you didn't want to ask  —  Donald Trump has made America's mental health crisis much worse.

It's true, Trump really did start building more wall in Texas  —  When President Trump said Monday at a campaign rally in El Paso that, “We've actually started a big, big portion of the wall today at a very important location, and it's going to go up pretty quickly over the next nine months …

Jill Abramson Plagiarized My Writing.  So I Interviewed Her About It  —  When journalist Jake Malooley talked to the former New York Times executive editor, she admitted only to minor mistakes — but her responses were revealing  —  Last Wednesday, I was on assignment at a high school basketball game …

The Lobbying Swamp Is Flourishing in Trump's Washington  —  At least 33 former officials — including ex-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke — have found ways to sidestep the administration's ethics pledge.  Of those, at least 18 are now registered federal lobbyists and the rest work in jobs that closely resemble lobbying.

Democrats hope for a nationalized Virginia election this fall  —  Richmond chaos could threaten state legislative takeover but big-picture trends still favor team blue  —  KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE  — The crisis in Richmond involving the state's top elected Democrats continues, and the ultimate resolution remains unclear.