How Mike Pence shat on the new carpet in Ireland's spare room  —  Stoical smiles as US vice-president delivers strong endorsement of Johnson and Brexit  —  The hospitable hosts buttered up their important guest and made a big fuss of his family and hoped he would say nice things …

A Top White House Reporter Is Taking Over The Washington Free Beacon  —  A leading political reporter is leaving Politico to lead the neoconservative flagship Washington Free Beacon, the latest move in a conservative media world attempting to adjust to the age of Donald Trump.

Jacob Wohl Wanted on Felony Arrest Warrant  —  The blundering conservative operative faces one charge of unlawfully selling securities in California.  —  Conservative operative Jacob Wohl is wanted on a felony arrest warrant in California, a development that could hamper his spree of bizarre, blundering political schemes.

The Trump Voters Whose ‘Need for Chaos’ Obliterates Everything Else  —  Political nihilism is one of the president's strongest weapons.  —  Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C. on politics, demographics and inequality.  —  Over the four years during …

Soft-landings and Twitter shame: How the White House handles ex-aides with stories to tell  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump's relationship with his chief of staff John Kelly was beyond repair when he announced last December that Kelly would be stepping down.  —  So before Kelly could leave …

Bill Flores Announces Intent to Not Seek Re-election in 2020  —  f t # e  —  U.S. Representative Bill Flores (R-Texas) announced today that he will not seek another term in Congress.  Flores is currently serving his fifth term representing the 17th Congressional District of Texas …

Hong Kong's Leader, Carrie Lam, to Withdraw Extradition Bill That Ignited Protests  —  HONG KONG — Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, said Wednesday that the government would withdraw a contentious extradition bill that ignited months of protests in the city, moving to quell …

‘They are riding a rubber ducky into alligator-infested waters’  —  President Donald Trump is staring down a series of trigger points that will determine whether he enters the 2020 campaign backed by his most valuable asset — a healthy U.S. economy — or empty-handed and further on the defensive.

Conflicting Rulings on the Electoral College Could Throw the Next Election Into Chaos  —  Since the 2016 election, some Democrats have raged against the Electoral College as an anti-democratic institution that does not reflect the will of the people.  Some Republicans have defended the institution …

Pentagon tells Congress which projects it will defund to pay for Trump's wall  —  The Pentagon on Wednesday began notifying lawmakers that certain military construction projects in their districts will be defunded to free up $3.6 billion from the Defense Department budget for President Trump's border wall project.

Trump administration rolls back Obama-era lightbulb rules  —  The Department of Energy (DOE) finalized a controversial rule Tuesday that would erase Obama-era efficiency standards for lightbulbs.  —  The regulation eliminates efficiency standards for about half the bulbs on the market.

‘Hundreds of other people could be implicated’ in Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell court documents  —  KEY POINTS  — Secret court filings related to Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged procurer Ghislaine Maxwell could implicate “hundreds of other people,” Maxwell's lawyer said.

Top Interior official who pushed to expand drilling in Alaska to join oil company there  —  Joe Balash, a Trump appointee, had served as assistant secretary for land and minerals management until Aug. 30.  —  Last summer, Scott Pruitt left his job heading the Environmental Protection Agency …

US offers cash to tanker captains in bid to seize Iranian ships  —  Four days before the US imposed sanctions on an Iranian tanker suspected of shipping oil to Syria, the vessel's Indian captain received an unusual email from the top Iran official at the Department of State.

Exclusive: Document reveals the FBI is tracking border protest groups as extremist organizations  —  WASHINGTON — The FBI is monitoring groups on the border that are protesting U.S. immigration policy, according to a document obtained by Yahoo News.  —  The FBI has gathered intelligence from people with …

Democratic Lawyer Greg Craig Is Acquitted  —  White House counsel for President Obama is vindicated over false-statement charge  —  WASHINGTON—Former White House counsel Greg Craig was acquitted by a federal jury on Wednesday on a felony false-statement charge, a major vindication for one of the most prominent lawyers in Washington.

The Season of Scarlett Johansson: Two Hot Films, Her Marvel Future, Woody Allen and a Pick for President  —  With Noah Baumbach's ‘Marriage Story’ and Taika Waititi's ‘Jojo Rabbit’, her Avengers spinoff ‘Black Widow’ and the mantle of the world's highest-grossing actress …

Bill de Blasio May End 2020 Presidential Bid Next Month  —  Mayor de Blasio said he would likely drop out of the race if he does not qualify for the Democratic presidential debate in October.  —  Mayor Bill de Blasio's long-shot run for president may have a defined end date: Oct. 1.

A Tomato Grows in the East River  —  A single tomato plant has sprouted on a piling by the Brooklyn Bridge.  Who knows how it got there?  —  On a wooden piling in the waters off Brooklyn Bridge Park, a lone red fruit grows between Pier 1, right next to the Brooklyn Bridge, and Pier 2.

21 British Conservatives put country over party.  Why can't 21 Republicans do the same?  —  Among them are two former chancellors of the exchequer, an array of former cabinet ministers, and many old and familiar stalwarts of Conservative party conferences and Conservative think tanks.

Why the Internet Thinks Cuomo Rigged N.Y.'s License Plate Contest  —  The theory: Four choices featuring the Statue of Liberty would split the vote, allowing the Cuomo Bridge design to prevail.  —  ALBANY — It seemed, at first glance, to be an innocuous idea.

Four Things That Are Not White Nationalism  —  Conservatism's racism problem is real.  So is a pattern of media smears against non-racist conservatives.  —  The American right in the Trump era has a racism problem.  It's fed by a Republican president who race-baits, a media ecosystem whose guardrails …

The Secret History of the Push to Strike Iran  —  Hawks in Israel and America have spent more than a decade agitating for war against the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.  Will Trump finally deliver?  —  In july of 2017, the White House was at a crossroads on the question of Iran.

The 10 counties that will decide the 2020 election  —  Three years after a presidential election that came down to 77,000 votes in three Midwestern battlegrounds, Democrats and Republicans are eyeing a much larger battlefield ahead of the 2020 contests, one that stretches from the picturesque coastline …

Infowars Loses Appeal in Sandy Hook Defamation Lawsuit  —  Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist proprietor of Infowars, and his attorneys were denied an appeal regarding a lawsuit that alleges Infowars broadcast defamatory comments regarding the father of a child murdered in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Charges officially dropped against ex-U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock in unusual deal with feds  —  Six months after striking a rare deal with prosecutors, former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock on Wednesday was officially cleared of criminal charges alleging he used his campaign funds as a private piggy bank.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors designates NRA domestic terrorist organization  —  SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - The city of San Francisco has formally adopted a resolution calling the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization.  —  San Francisco's Board of Supervisors …

The deadly hidden risks within the most prominent economic model of climate change  —  Is climate change a crisis demanding immediate aggressive action to smash down carbon emissions, or is it an annoying inconvenience that can be dealt with slowly over decades?

US watchdog: Separated migrant children suffered trauma  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Migrant children who were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border last year suffered post-traumatic stress and other serious mental health problems, according to a government watchdog report Wednesday.

Woman shoots man who reached into car and tried to steal purse in SW Houston: Police  —  HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A woman shot and wounded a suspected robber who reached for her purse, police say.  —  It happened around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday on Creekbend at Fondren in southwest Houston.