Trump invites congressional leaders to White House to discuss Iran after Revolutionary Guard shoots down U.S. drone  —  DUBAI — Iran shot down a U.S. naval surveillance drone with the wingspan of an airliner near the Strait of Hormuz early Thursday, escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf region …

‘This place has enough creepy old men’: GOP vows to crush Roy Moore  —  Republicans are promising to do everything they can to obliterate Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate primary.  —  A push is underway to get President Donald Trump involved in derailing Moore.

Joe Biden Calls Cory Booker to Smooth Over Tensions After Segregationist Remarks  —  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called a rival in the 2020 presidential campaign, Senator Cory Booker, to try to smooth over tensions late Wednesday night after Mr. Booker …

Lawyers: 250 children held in bad conditions at Texas border  —  EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A traumatic and dangerous situation is unfolding for some 250 infants, children and teens locked up for up to 27 days without adequate food, water and sanitation, according to a legal team that interviewed dozens …

Horns are growing on young people's skulls.  Phone use is to blame, research suggests.  —  Mobile technology has transformed the way we live — how we read, work, communicate, shop and date.  —  But we already know this.  —  What we have not yet grasped is the way the tiny machines …

Roger Stone violated gag order with social media posts, prosecutors say  —  Washington (CNN)Federal prosecutors in a new court filing Thursday allege that longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone has violated his gag order in his criminal case with recent social media posts.

Some White House Reporters Are Throwing Sarah Huckabee Sanders A Goodbye Party  —  White House correspondents and some Trump staffers plan to send Sanders off with “farewell drinks” next week.  —  Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the reporters who cover the White House haven't always had the smoothest relationship.

Sources: Rays to explore playing in Montreal  —  The Tampa Bay Rays received permission from Major League Baseball's executive council to explore a plan in which they would play early-season home games in the Tampa Bay area and the remainder of the year in Montreal, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

'These People Aren't Coming From Norway': Refugees in a Minnesota City Face a Backlash  —  As more Somali refugees arrive in St. Cloud, white anti-immigration activists have pressed an increasingly explicit anti-Muslim agenda.  —  ST. CLOUD, Minn. — John Palmer, a former university professor, has always had a cause.

N.R.A. Suspends Second-in-Command, Implicating Him in Coup Attempt  —  The palace intrigue at the National Rifle Association deepened on Thursday as the gun group suspended its second-in-command and top lobbyist, accusing him of complicity in the recent failed coup against its chief executive, Wayne LaPierre.

‘My Whole Life Is a Bet.’ Inside President Trump's Gamble on an Untested Re-Election Strategy  —  ‘My whole life is a bet,’ the President of the United States says, resting his forearms on the edge of the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.  —  It's a steamy evening in mid-June …

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren Had a Secret Nonaggression Agreement.  Is It Falling Apart?  —  When Elizabeth Warren hosted Bernie Sanders at her place in Washington for a private meeting late on the second Wednesday of December, both senators finally came clean with what was, by that point, obvious but unspoken.

This is a real slide from an Air Force brief on the real threat of incels  —  At least one Air Force base is on the lookout for a sinister new threat: angry men who can't get laid.  —  Personnel at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland were recently treated to a threat brief regarding an …

Mural of George Washington that ‘traumatizes students’ to be covered up  —  There's plans in the works to cover a mural of George Washington from the halls of George Washington High School in San Francisco due to complaints that it's offensive and demeaning to Native Americans and African Americans.

Appeals court says Trump family planning restrictions can take effect  —  A federal appeals court this morning said the Trump administration's family planning rules can take effect nationwide while several lawsuits play out, delivering a major blow to Planned Parenthood and states challenging the overhaul.

Stunning Twist in Navy SEAL War Crimes Trial: Witness Says He Was the Killer  —  SAN DIEGO — In stunning testimony that may upend the war crimes trial of Navy SEAL Chief Edward Gallagher, a SEAL medic told the court on Thursday that he and not the chief had killed a wounded captive in Iraq.

Oregon Republican senator threatens state troopers, warns them to ‘come heavily armed’  —  Tensions were already smoldering in the Oregon Senate Wednesday, when Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, poured gasoline on the situation, suggesting he would shoot and potentially kill any state trooper sent …

A gay first lady?  Yes, we've already had one, and here are her love letters.  —  In the summer of 1910, Evangeline Simpson Whipple told the caretaker of her home not to move anything in her absence.  The wealthy widow was going on a trip, but would be back soon, she said.  —  She never returned.

Senate rebukes Trump with vote to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE  —  The Senate voted to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, rebuking President Donald Trump's foreign policy in the aftermath of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Biggest Obstacle to Trump's Victory in 2020  —  In his campaign kickoff this week, President Donald Trump demonstrated once again that he is determined to solve a problem he doesn't have—even at the expense of exacerbating the greatest obstacle to his reelection.

Trump is bumping into a very low 2020 ceiling  —  45 is struggling to crack the mid-40s in polls.  And it appears the only way he'll overcome it is to pull the Democrats down with him — as he did in 2016.  —  President Trump launched his reelection campaign this week at an inauspicious time.

Hope Hicks refused to answer 155 questions from Dems during House testimony  —  The White House directed Hope Hicks to refuse to answer 155 questions from House Democrats about her time in President Donald Trump's West Wing, according to a transcript of her remarks released Thursday.

Paternity suit in state lists Joe Biden's son, 49  —  An Arkansas woman is suing the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, alleging that he is the father of her baby.  —  Thus far, she's been unable to serve him with the papers, her attorney said.  —  Lunden Alexis Roberts filed a petition …