James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution  —  James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump's Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump's performance as president.

Trump Campaign Looks at Electoral Map and Doesn't Like What It Sees  —  As polls show President Trump significantly trailing his rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., his campaign is spending heavily in states, like Ohio, that it had hoped would not be competitive at all this year.

Senator's ‘Send In the Troops’ Op-Ed in The Times Draws Online Ire  —  Staff members at the newspaper, including a Pulitzer winner, denounced an opinion essay by Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, calling for a military response to protests.  —  “Country Braces for a 9th Straight Night of Unrest …

AP FACT CHECK: Trump denies tear gas use despite evidence  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and some of his supporters are claiming authorities did not use tear gas against people in a crackdown outside the White House this week.  There's evidence they did.

Republicans urge Trump to keep Esper  —  Senate Republicans have a clear message for President Donald Trump: Do not fire Defense Secretary Mark Esper.  —  GOP senators reaffirmed their support for Esper on Wednesday, hours after he broke with the president on sending in active-duty troops …

A dangerous new factor in an uneasy moment: Unidentified law enforcement officers  —  After more than a week of unrest, tensions in a number of major U.S. cities has eased.  The vandalism and looting that had often used large, peaceful protests as cover has faded; the eruption of violence at protests appears to be less common.

Virginia governor to announce removal of Lee statue  —  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to announce plans Thursday for the removal of an iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond's prominent Monument Avenue, a senior administration official told The Associated Press.

Attorney General Keith Ellison to elevate charges against officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck; also charging other 3 involved  —  Ellison took over case on Sunday.  —  TEXT SIZE  —  Attorney General Keith Ellison plans to elevate charges against the former Minneapolis police officer …

Donald Trump's Fascist Performance  —  Donald Trump thinks power looks like masked men in combat uniforms lined up in front of the marble columns of the Lincoln Memorial.  He thinks it looks like Black Hawk helicopters hovering so low over protesters that they chop off the tops of trees.

Prosecutors: 3 men plotted to terrorize Vegas protests  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) — Three Nevada men with ties to a loose movement of right-wing extremists advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government have been arrested on terrorism-related charges in what authorities say was a conspiracy …

President Trump tried to register to vote in Florida using an out-of-state address  —  President Trump originally tried to register to vote in Florida while claiming his “legal residence” was in another part of the country — Washington, D.C. — according to Florida elections records.

Statement from Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter  —  Rosalynn and I are pained by the tragic racial injustices and consequent backlash across our nation in recent weeks.  Our hearts are with the victims' families and all who feel hopeless in the face of pervasive racial discrimination and outright cruelty.

BunkerBoy's Photo-Op War  —  Is this an authoritarian crackdown by Donald Trump or just another politicized spectacle?  —  On Tuesday morning, a day after Donald Trump crossed Lafayette Square for an awkward photo op in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, I met an outraged Lutheran pastor there …

People Say Pallets Of Bricks Are Showing Up Near Protests All Over The US.  The Truth Is More Complicated.  —  A wave of social media posts and images have claimed that pallets of bricks have been appearing near the locations of protests in cities all over the United States.

Gun-toting members of the Boogaloo movement are showing up at protests  —  (CNN)Benjamin Ryan Teeter was at his home in Hampstead, N.C., when the call to action came.  It was an alert from the heart of the raging protests in Minneapolis, posted on an online forum by a fellow member of the Boogaloo movement …

How bad will the jobs number be?  —  20 PERCENT UNEMPLOYMENT?  — As protests continue throughout the country over police brutality toward black Americans, it's worth remembering that we're still in the middle of a severe recession.  The monthly jobs numbers for May, which will be released Friday …

A Moment of National Shame and Peril—and Hope  —  We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of American democracy, but there is still a way to stop the descent.  —  The slide of the United States into illiberalism may well have begun on June 1, 2020.  Remember the date.

The Virus Closed His Bronx Jewelry Store.  Then Looters Broke In.  —  “I'm 100 percent with people who are protesting for justice, but is this justice?” one business owner said.  “You're killing me.”  —  The looters attacked with crow bars and bolt cutters.

I'm a cop.  I won't fight a ‘war’ on crime the way I fought the war on terror.  —  The failed strategy I participated in for years as a CIA officer is not how to police people I consider my neighbors.  It's not how to police at all.  —  When I left the CIA, I no longer wanted to fight our “war on terror.”

Mexican senator accidentally goes topless on Zoom meeting  —  A Mexican lawmakers accidentally showed up topless in a government Zoom meeting — but later insisted she was “not ashamed” of having shown her body.  —  Senator Martha Lucía Mícher Camarena, 66 …

Sen. Paul acknowledges holding up anti-lynching bill, says he fears it would be wrongly applied  —  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) acknowledged Wednesday that he is holding up a bill with broad bipartisan support that would make lynching a federal hate crime, saying he fears it could allow enhanced penalties …