POLITICO Playbook: Scarred DeSantis staffers form a support group  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  There may be turbulence ahead for Rep. ELISE STEFANIK as she wrestles the GOP leadership post from Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) next week.  DONALD TRUMP is sold on the New York Republican after her unbending show …

BREAKING: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won't run for reelection  —  By J.D. Capelouto - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wilborn P. Nobles III - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Greg Bluestein - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  —  In a stunning announcement Thursday night …

‘They Own The Media’: New Van Morrison song amplifies antisemitic trope  —  Legendary singer-songwriter Van Morrison released a new song on streaming platforms Thursday whose title espouses a classic antisemitic trope.  —  The lyrics of the song, “They Own The Media,” never indicate who the pronoun in its title refers to.

April's expected hiring boom goes bust as nonfarm payroll gain falls well short of estimates  — Hiring was a huge letdown in April, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by a much less than expected 266,000.  — The unemployment rate rose to 6.1%, the Labor Department said.

Historian Jon Meacham says GOP “has descended into fantasy, conspiracy and falsehoods” - on “The Takeout”  —  Historian Jon Meacham, author of several presidential biographies, thinks that former President Trump helped ignite some of the divisions in the Republican Party.

Melinda Gates Warned Bill About Jeffrey Epstein  —  After a secret meeting between the couple and the wealthy sex offender, Melinda was furious and told friends she wanted nothing to do with Epstein, The Daily Beast has learned. … Melinda Gates met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alongside …

The Wuhan-Lab Theory Is Not Far-Fetched.  Just Look at China's Reckless Rocket Program  —  On the menu today: The Chinese space program is about as careful and safety-conscious as the Chinese viral-research program; a deep look at the mounting evidence pointing to a lab leak …

New Study Estimates More Than 900,000 People Have Died Of COVID-19 In U.S.  —  A new study estimates that the number of people who have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. is more than 900,000, a number 57% higher than official figures.  —  Worldwide, the study's authors say …

Tucker Carlson Doubles Down on Batsh** Vaccine Fearmongering, Blames Biden For His Inability to Understand Facts  —  Fox News' Tucker Carlson gets great ratings, frequently beating the competition in his timeslot.  You'd think that he would have a vested interest in keeping his audience members alive …

‘Belonging Is Stronger Than Facts’: The Age of Misinformation  —  Social and psychological forces are combining to make the sharing and believing of misinformation an endemic problem with no easy solution.  —  There's a decent chance you've had at least one of these rumors, all false …

4 Years After an Execution, a Different Man's DNA Is Found on the Murder Weapon  —  Lawyers' request to conduct additional DNA testing before Ledell Lee was executed had been denied.  —  For 22 years, Ledell Lee maintained that he had been wrongly convicted of murder.

Jen Psaki says she talked with the Biden transition team about a roughly one-year term  —  New York (CNN Business)A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter.  You can sign up for free right here.  —  In a pair of new interviews, White House press secretary Jen Psaki …

‘Not who we are as a country’: Elise Stefanik once harshly blasted Trump's rhetoric and policies  —  (CNN)New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, one of former President Donald Trump's loudest defenders in Congress, once harshly attacked Trump over both his rhetoric and policies, claiming that she'd be an “independent voice.”

Polling's Prognosis: Wary Conservatives and Eager Liberals  —  A new report points to another problem with surveys: liberals with strong political views who are almost too willing to be polled.  —  Political pollsters know they're having trouble reaching entire swaths of the Trump-supporting electorate …

Economy picked up 266,000 jobs in April, fewer than expected as economy tries to rebound  —  A growing fight between the White House and Republicans over workers and incentives has cast a new light on the labor market  —  The U.S. economy added just 266,000 jobs in April …

As a CEO, I worry about the erosion of office culture with more remote work … Cathy Merrill is chief executive of Washingtonian Media.  —  Like many of my fellow small-business owners, I am excited about the prospect of returning to in-person work but am struggling with when and how to safely reopen …

Jenner has hangar pains after Hannity interview  —  OAKLAND — Move over French Laundry, there's a new social media obsession: Hangar Guy.  —  GOP recall candidate Caitlyn Jenner may have played right into Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's hands when she lamented on Fox News …

Senior CDC official who met Trump's wrath for raising alarm about coronavirus to resign  —  Nancy Messonnier has been director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases since 2016.  —  Nancy Messonnier, a senior health expert at the Centers for Disease Control …

F.E.C. Drops Case Reviewing Trump Hush-Money Payments to Women  —  The case had examined whether Donald Trump violated election law with a $130,000 payment shortly before the 2016 election to a pornographic-film actress by his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Biden Is Going To Scrap A Trump-Era Plan To Force Immigrants To Submit Eye Scans, Voice Prints, And DNA  —  The Biden administration on Friday will scrap a Trump-era proposal that sought to dramatically expand the number of immigrants required to submit biometrics for their applications …

DeSantis ban on vaccine proof may send one company's cruise ships out of Florida  —  If Florida won't allow Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for passengers and crew, the company's CEO says it will take its ships elsewhere.

Joe Biden's fiscal (and other) follies  —  Conservatives don't have a monopoly on gloom and doom.  For confirmation of this, one need only look at the Malthusian Left's repeated, and repeatedly mistaken, predictions that global warming, now known as climate change, is about to extinguish life on Earth.

Texas GOP's voting restriction bill passes key House vote  —  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republican lawmakers advanced a sweeping elections bill early Friday following hours of discussion that would put America's biggest red state closer to imposing a raft of new voting restrictions in the face of growing warning from corporations.

Scientists have taught bees to smell the coronavirus.  They can identify a case within seconds.  — Dutch scientists have trained bees to smell COVID-19.  — Every time the bees were exposed to an infected sample, they stuck out their tongues.  — The animals could be a low-tech solution for identifying COVID-19 cases.

Our Pathetic Herd Immunity Failure  —  Could today's version of America have been able to win World War II?  It hardly seems possible.  —  That victory required national cohesion, voluntary sacrifice for the common good and trust in institutions and each other.