Israel strike in Gaza destroys building with AP, other media  —  GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp killed …

The purging of Liz Cheney is about much more than the future of the GOP  —  It was just another week in Donald Trump's Republican Party, and once again, truth was a casualty.  —  House Republicans replaced a 2020 election truth-teller with a 2020 election truth-denier as the third-ranking member of their leadership.

McKissick whips Wood in South Carolina GOP race  —  Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood's bid to bring “chaos” to South Carolina's GOP was halted on Saturday when he failed to unseat the party's chairman after baselessly accusing the incumbent of voter fraud and a host of other slurs.

Covid Live Updates: Major U.S. Retailers Drop Mask Requirements  —  Walmart, Costco, Publix and Starbucks are among the retail giants effectively moving to an honor system.  In parts of the U.S., nearly all older adults have been vaccinated.  —  RIGHT NOW Taiwan hits a daily case record.

Make it Mayor Garcia: New Yorkers should choose Kathryn Garcia in the Democratic primary  —  The next mayor of New York will assume leadership of America's largest city at a hinge in its history, and not only because the five boroughs are still reeling from the loss of more than 30,000 lives …

Paulina Porizkova on Instagram, Aaron Sorkin and Aging  —  The veteran supermodel is contesting the will of her late husband, Ric Ocasek — and writing herself a splashy new chapter.  —  When the writer and model Paulina Porizkova was asked by Aaron Sorkin to join him at the Oscars …

Conservatives Excommunicated the Last Republican President Who Lost  —  One of the rationalizations Republicans have made for their party's refusal to disavow Donald Trump's authoritarianism is that asking a party to renounce a former president is categorically unreasonable.  “He's an ex-president.

Space Force CO Who Got Holiday Call from Trump Fired Over Comments Decrying Marxism in the Military  —  A commander of a U.S. Space Force unit tasked with detecting ballistic missile launches has been fired for comments made during a podcast promoting his new book, which claims Marxist ideologies …

The Intercept Stands By Its Reporting on Gab and the Riot Squad … Over the past several days, wild and unfounded accusations have been hurled at The Intercept.  We publish corrections and clarifications when we get something wrong, but none of these attacks have any merit whatsoever.

How Marjorie Taylor Greene became the Voldemort of Congress.  Few lawmakers even want to say her name.  — House members say they are done answering questions about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.  — Democrats told Insider they were relieved they didn't have to work with her on committees.

723 Epidemiologists on When and How the U.S. Can Fully Return to Normal  —  Government mandates are lifting, but these experts say the pandemic won't really end nationally until more people, including children, are vaccinated.  —  Covid-19 cases are decreasing in the United States …

Isolated Biden in bid to forge UN consensus on conflict  —  Attempt to salvage a common position on Israel after US team tries to delay, citing bad timing  —  The UN security council will meet in open session on Sunday to attempt to salvage a common position on the new conflict between Israel …

The new mask guidance relies on an honor system.  Do we trust each other enough to make it work?  —  As soon as Michelle Garrett verified that the new federal mask guidelines were real, she turned to her 14-year-old daughter, who just became eligible for vaccination against the coronavirus this week.

Tensions Among Democrats Grow Over Israel as the Left Defends Palestinians  —  Divisions within the party have burst into public view, with the party's ascendant left viewing the Mideast conflict as a searing racial justice issue that carries echoes of U.S. politics.

How Jon Stewart killed comedy  —  Stewart became a prominent progressive voice, a pundit screaming into the void  —  Jon Stewart interviews Sen. Hillary Clinton on The Daily Show, 2003 (Scott Gries/Getty)  —  Somewhere along the way, Jon Stewart discovered he could make stupid people laugh …