GOP Congresswoman Blamed Wildfires on Secret Jewish Space Laser  —  Axios has a small squib about “The Mischief Makers,” a handful of idiosyncratic congressional backbenchers who make trouble for their respective party leadership.  The leading Democratic mischief-maker is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez …

Many of my fellow politicians won't tell voters the truth.  The result was Jan. 6.  —  Telling the public only what it wants to hear is no way to keep democracy going  —  In the fall of 2013, in the middle of what was at the time the second-longest government shutdown in American history …

‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years - ex-KGB spy  —  The KGB ‘played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality’, Yuri Shvets, a key source for a new book, tells the Guardian  —  Donald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset over 40 years …

Pipe bombs found near Capitol on Jan. 6 are believed to have been placed the night before  —  The two pipe bombs that were discovered on Jan. 6 near the U.S. Capitol shortly before a mob stormed the building are believed to have been planted the night before, according to a law enforcement official familiar …

WATCH: Brian Williams Roasts Kevin McCarthy with ‘Exclusive Video’ of Mar-a-Lago Meeting with Trump  —  MSNBC's Brian Williams cuttingly lampooned House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy by presenting what Williams said was footage of McCarthy's meeting with ex-President Donald Trump at Trump's West Palm Beach resort.

NEW THIS AM: Warren Calls on the SEC to Address Stock Market Gamesmanship Amid Volatile GameStop Trades  —  “The recent chaos reveals a clear distortion in securities markets, with benefits accruing to investors that do not clearly benefit the company's workers, consumers, or the broader economy.”

Robinhood, in Need of Cash, Raises $1 Billion From Its Investors  —  The no-fee trading app, which is popular with young investors, has been strained by the high volume of trading this week in stocks such as GameStop.  —  Facing an onslaught of demands on its cash amid a stock market frenzy …

Single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine 66 percent effective against moderate and severe illness  —  A coronavirus vaccine with less onerous storage and administration requirements could be a ‘game changer’  —  A single-shot coronavirus vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson …

Crime In America: Study Reveals The 10 Most Unsafe Neighborhoods  —  While data shows that crime is actually down in the U.S. in recent years, many Americans believe that the country is becoming more violent than ever—and high-profile incidents like mobs rioting at the U.S. Capitol …

Conservatives warn culture, political wars will worsen  —  The verdict is clear: The vast majority of Republicans will stand firm with former President Trump.  The next phase is clear, too: Republicans are rallying around a common grievance that big government, big media and big business …

POLITICO Playbook: My wild day in Wyoming with Matt Gaetz  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  TARA WRITES FROM CHEYENNE, Wyo. — When the opportunity arose to fly across the country to see whether a slick-suited, 30-something congressman from Florida could stage a substantial rally in the name of DONALD TRUMP …

Republican Ties to Extremist Groups Are Under Scrutiny  —  A number of members of Congress have links to organizations and movements that played a role in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.  —  WASHINGTON — The video's title was posed as a question, but it left little doubt about where the men who filmed it stood.

Trump Impeachment Lawyer Removed A Black Juror He Said ‘Shucked And Jived’  —  The South Carolina Supreme Court called attorney Greg Harris' use of a racial stereotype “troublesome.”  —  One of the attorneys on former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial team previously used racial stereotypes …

Famed GameStop bull ‘Roaring Kitty’ is a Massachusetts financial advisor  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A YouTube streamer who helped drive a surge in the shares of GameStop Corp is a 34-year-old financial advisor from Massachusetts and until recently worked for insurance giant MassMutual, public records and social media posts show.

Ex-FBI lawyer spared prison for altering Trump-Russia probe email  —  The only person charged in the Justice Department's investigation into the origins of the probe of former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and its ties to Russia was spared prison time for altering an email used to support a surveillance application.

Washington: A Love Story  —  How Republican lies are killing the city I once loved.  —  1. The Capitol  —  I'd like to tell you a story.  —  I took my first grown-up, unsupervised trip to Washington in the spring of 1996.  I was a college senior in Baltimore and during the pause before finals …

Arizona GOP lawmaker introduces bill to give Legislature power to toss out election results  —  The Republican chair of Arizona's state House Ways and Means Committee introduced a bill Wednesday that would give the Legislature authority to override the secretary of state's certification of its electoral votes.

Biden's Worst Executive Order Went Almost Entirely Unnoticed  —  In the flurry of President Joe Biden's executive orders was one that was almost entirely overlooked but could easily end up having the biggest impact.  —  The order also seems harmless enough, going by the seemingly innocent title “Modernizing Regulatory Review.”

An Interview With Sen. Rob Portman  —  The Republican from Ohio discusses his retirement, the current political environment, and impeachment.  —  6 hr ago  —  On Thursday, I interviewed Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who recently announced his retirement.  We discussed the lack of civility in politics …

U.S. handling of American evacuees from Wuhan increased coronavirus risks, watchdog finds  —  The special counsel also criticized the HHS general counsel's office for its ‘attempts to shame the whistleblower.’  —  As the first American evacuees from Wuhan, China, touched down at a California military base …

Body Camera Footage Shows Capitol Rioters Trampling Over Woman  —  Video obtained by The Times provides a police officer's view of the deadly battle to defend a key entryway from the surging mob.  —  As 34-year-old Rosanne Boyland lay dying on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 6 after being crushed by a mob …

Red Alert: The Return of Cass Sunstein  —  Cass Sunstein, pictured during his tenure as director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, March 16, 2011  —  When I wrote a piece last spring called “The Biden Do Not Reappoint List,” it did not even occur to me to include Cass Sunstein …

‘Trump Just Used Us and Our Fear’: One Woman's Journey Out of QAnon  —  During the political fallout after four years of Donald J. Trump, one question is what will happen with the followers of conspiracy theories that bend Americans' perceptions of reality.  —  WASHINGTON — In the summer of 2017 …

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is trying to hold together a party that Donald Trump might want to tear up  —  Air Force One was fueled and ready for the final flight.  —  This was the end for Donald Trump, the last hours of a progressively more noxious and isolated presidency.

American fascism isn't going away  —  A conversation with Yale's Jason Stanley about the latent pathologies in American politics.  —  The word “fascism” has been tossed around so much over the past four years that it's hard to know what it even means anymore.

Cable networks are cutting back on contributors as the Trump media frenzy comes to an end … - Some reporters and commentators in the Trump era made $50,000 to $100,000 or more a year with contributor contracts on CNN and MSNBC.  — Sources said deals are not getting renewed as TV news networks thin the ranks.