‘Off the rails’: Inside Trump's attempt to claim victory in his border wall defeat  —  After three weeks of pained negotiations to keep the federal government open, President Trump almost blew the whole thing up again on Thursday.  —  Headed for another defeat on his signature promise …

Andrew McCabe's disturbing account of working for Sessions and Trump  —  Greg Miller is national security correspondent for The Washington Post, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of “The Apprentice: Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American Democracy.”

Amazon Will Pay a Whopping $0 in Federal Taxes on $11.2 Billion Profits  —  Those wondering how many zeros Amazon, which is valued at a trillion dollars, has to pay in federal taxes might be surprised to learn that its check to the IRS will read exactly $0.00.

We're entering a new phase of the Trump-Russia investigation  —  President Trump has been insisting for so long that any investigation of his personal finances would cross a “ red line ” that people may have overlooked the outrageousness of his claim.  But this self-declared immunity is about to change.

The massacre Trump's envoy to Venezuela wants us to forget  —  Sign up for the Today's WorldView newsletter.  —  “I fail to understand,” the congresswoman said at a hearing Wednesday, “why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful.”

Sources: Police investigating whether Jussie Smollett staged attack with help of others, allegedly being written off ‘Empire’  —  Chicago police confirmed Thursday that detectives are talking to two persons of interest in connection with the alleged attack on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

Stop Alleging Anti-Semitism Just to Score Political Points  —  The conversation about Israel has become a toxic partisan firefight, bereft of insight or vision.  —  President and founder of J Street  —  There's little doubt that Israel is shaping up to be one of the hottest of hot-button issues …

Boyfriend's Email: Butina ‘Manipulated’ Russian Spy Agency for NRA Trip  —  According to her boyfriend, Russian agent Maria Butina had major sway with the FSB officers “assigned” to her.  —  The boyfriend of confessed Russian agent Maria Butina wrote that she “manipulated” …

Top US general disagrees with Trump over Syria troop pullout  —  Muscat, Oman (CNN)The US commander who has been leading the war against ISIS told CNN Friday that he disagreed with Donald Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria and warned that the terror group was far from defeated, in a stark public break with the President.

‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy video posted to YouTube account of alleged arsonist's parents before fire  —  The video was posted to Ryan Jaselskis' parents' YouTube account an hour before he allegedly tried to burn down the restaurant at the center of the massive internet conspiracy theory.

Why Are These Professional War Peddlers Still Around?  —  One thing that every late-stage ruling class has in common is a high tolerance for mediocrity.  Standards decline, the edges fray, but nobody in charge seems to notice.  They're happy in their sinecures and getting richer.

Blaming Political Climate, Trumps Give Up on New Hotels  —  In the early months of the Trump administration, with the president no longer running his family business, his eldest sons embarked on a plan to roll out two new hotel lines in dozens of American cities.