Pompeo's elite taxpayer-funded dinners raise new concerns  —  WASHINGTON — As federal workers file out of the State Department at the end of a Washington workday, an elite group is often just arriving in the marbled, flag-lined lobby: Billionaire CEOs, Supreme Court justices …

Trump administration declassifies full Susan Rice email sent on Inauguration Day  —  On the day of President Donald Trump's inauguration, outgoing national security adviser Susan Rice sent herself an email that has since drawn intense scrutiny from Republicans.

'We've been muzzled': CDC sources say White House putting politics ahead of science  —  (CNN)In the early weeks of the US coronavirus outbreak, staff members in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had tracked a growing number of transmissions in Europe and elsewhere …

Pompeo Declined Interview Request From Inspector General About Saudi Arms Sales  —  The secretary of state instead offered written answers.  He was aware of the inquiry and the specific lines of questioning about his decision to resume the sales.  —  WASHINGTON — Secretary …

A complicated life and conflicting accounts muddle efforts to understand Tara Reade's allegation against Joe Biden  —  New details emerge on Reade's exit from Biden's office  —  (CNN)As Tara Reade was leaving her job at Joe Biden's Senate office in 1993, she told a close colleague …

Why Ronan Farrow Is Indeed Too Good to Be True  —  Editor's Note: After Matt Lauer submitted this piece, a response to Ronan Farrow's book Catch and Kill, Mediaite editors independently fact checked the accounts of the four witnesses/subjects Lauer spoke with and cites in this piece.

Biden blasts Trump for taking hydroxychloroquine: 'C'mon man!'  —  Former Vice President Joe Biden, speaking publicly for the first time about President Trump's controversial  —  announcement Monday that he was taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus infection, reacted, as many Americans did, with bafflement.

Trump allies lining up doctors to prescribe rapid reopening  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican political operatives are recruiting “pro-Trump” doctors to go on television to prescribe reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, without waiting to meet safety benchmarks proposed …

Trump calls high number of coronavirus cases in the US a ‘badge of honor,’ attributes it to testing  —  WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Tuesday called the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States - the highest in the world - a “badge of honor,” arguing the still-increasing number …

Donald Trump administration open to conditional Israeli annexation, as Palestinians abandon all past agreements  —  Europe, Jordan and other Arab states have rejected the plan  —  The Trump administration is leaning towards a conditional acceptance of Israeli annexation planned in July …

Joe Biden calls Donald Trump Jr. ‘sick’ for suggesting he's a pedophile and says Donald Trump is ‘petty’ for not wanting to hang Barack Obama's portrait  — Joe Biden laid into two generations of Trumps Tuesday night while appearing at a virtual town hall hosted by Yahoo News

Vaccine experts say Moderna didn't produce data critical to assessing Covid-19 vaccine  —  Heavy hearts soared Monday with news that Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine candidate — the frontrunner in the American market — seemed to be generating an immune response in Phase 1 trial subjects.

Analyst was praised for creating and running Florida's coronavirus data website.  Now she says she was fired for challenging secrecy  —  The woman who created and ran Florida's online coronavirus data site has been fired, just days after she said she fought the state Department of Health's efforts …

Jane Roe's Deathbed Confession: Anti-Abortion Conversion ‘All an Act’ Paid for by the Christian Right  —  REVEALING  —  The new FX documentary “AKA Jane Roe,” out May 22, contains a shocking revelation: Roe (of “Roe v. Wade” fame) played the part of an anti-abortion crusader in exchange for money.

Federal judge says all Texas voters can apply to vote by mail during pandemic  —  District Judge Fred Biery granted a preliminary injunction that allows all registered voters under 65 to apply to vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic after finding the state's existing election rules violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Judge allows fraud suit against Trump, family and company to proceed  —  New York (CNN)A federal judge on Monday allowed a federal lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump, his three eldest children and his company of collaborating with a fraudulent marketing scheme to prey on investors to proceed.

Mount Everest is Visible From Kathmandu, Nepal for First Time in Living Memory  —  Last week Mount Everest was visible from Kathmandu for the first time in living memory.  —  Due to the global lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, vehicles are off the roads, and industry has ground to a halt …

Health leaders: We stuck together to #StayHome, now we can start together to #OpenSafely  —  Americans want our country to open up safely.  —  We have been at this for a number of difficult weeks since the global coronavirus pandemic began, and it has taken a toll.  —  It has been a time of unprecedented challenge.

U.S. Birthrates Fall to Record Low  —  Last year's data are another sign of how American childbearing, which began declining during the 2007-09 recession, never fully rebounded  —  American women had babies at record-low rates last year and pushed U.S. births down to their smallest total in 35 years …

Democrats open investigation into Trump's replacement of acting Transportation Department inspector general  —  Three leading House Democrats said Tuesday that they plan to open an investigation into the replacement of the Transportation Department's acting inspector general …

CDC: Arkansas coronavirus outbreak linked to church services  —  35 of the 92 people (38%) who attended services at a rural Arkansas church March 6-11 tested positive for the coronavirus, ultimately killing three, according to a case study released Tuesday by the CDC.

Airlines pack in customers like there's no coronavirus  —  As restaurants, department stores and other local businesses grapple with operating at half occupancy (or less) to comply with social distancing guidelines, airlines are packing customers to near capacity on a reduced number of flights.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in talks to become Joe Biden's VP pick  —  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has confirmed she is in talks with Joe Biden's campaign to become his running mate, as the race to join his ticket reaching an unseen fever pitch.  —  “I've had a conversation with some folks …

Asian American doctors and nurses are fighting racism and the coronavirus  —  Across the country, Asian Americans have reported a sharp increase in verbal abuse and physical attacks  —  Lucy Li tries not to let fear dictate her interactions with patients as she makes the rounds in the covid-19 intensive care unit.

The Worst Is Yet to Come  —  The coronavirus and our disastrous national response to it has smashed optimists like me in the head.  —  For as long as I can remember, I have identified as an optimist.  Like a seedling reaching toward the golden sun, I'm innately tuned to seek out the bright side.

‘A moonshot mission’: Trump campaign eyes a return to megarallies  —  The Trump campaign has an order from the president: Find a way to get him back on the road and into mega-rallies to re-energize his base.  —  In recent meetings with top campaign officials and White House aides …

Where Does Ron DeSantis Go to Get His Apology?  —  The Florida governor explains a COVID-19 strategy that has gotten bad press and favorable results.  —  A couple of months ago, the media, almost as one, decided that Governor Ron DeSantis was a public menace who was going to get Floridians killed …

I Spent a Week Down the Right-Wing Media Rabbit Hole—and Was Mesmerized by It  —  BONNE AVENTURE  —  Here's what it's like to spend a full week of COVID-19 quarantine holed up consuming nothing but Fox News, talk radio, conservative websites, and One America News.  —  Isolated.  Detached.

Trump-Biden voters could decide the 2020 election  —  Nine percent of Trump's 2016 voters say they're planning to vote for Biden, our data suggest.  —  After the 2016 election, analysts spilled tubs of ink arguing that “Obama-Trump” voters helped swing the election.

Glenn Greenwald's Invented Claims in Defense of Bill Barr and Mike Flynn  —  Last week, Glenn Greenwald did a podcast defending Bill Barr's efforts to overturn the prosecution of Mike Flynn (here's a transcript; the italicized language below is my correction of that transcript).