Feds investigating alleged scheme to illegally finance Collins' reelection bid  —  The FBI is investigating what it describes as a massive scheme to illegally finance Sen. Susan Collins' 2020 reelection bid, Axios has learned.  —  What's happening: A recently unsealed search warrant application shows …

The real reasons for why Kevin McCarthy is afraid of a January 6 commission  —  (CNN)Days after a bipartisan agreement was reached in the House to form a commission to examine the roots and events of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday that he opposes the bill.

New York attorney general adds ‘criminal capacity’ to probe of Trump Organization  —  (CNN)New York Attorney General Letitia James is joining the Manhattan district attorney's office in a criminal investigation of the Trump Organization, James' office said Tuesday.

Source: U.S. helped avert Israeli ground invasion of Gaza; hopes rise conflict could end soon  —  The Biden administration is increasingly hopeful that the deadly conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants is in its final stages, and U.S. officials are confident their mostly behind …

Biden floors electric Ford truck in test drive as he pushes infrastructure plan  —  Biden went pedal to the metal while modeling green energy with a test drive.  —  Biden endorses cease-fire in Middle East amid mounting pressure  —  The administration has been focusing on quiet diplomatic efforts behind the scenes.

House Democrats' 2020 election autopsy: Bad polling hurt and GOP attacks worked  —  For the second time in four years, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.) drew one of the toughest assignments: investigating what went wrong in a disappointing election.  —  The 2017 after-action review followed …

Scoop: Biden to waive sanctions on company in charge of Nord Stream 2  —  The Biden administration will waive sanctions on the corporate entity and CEO overseeing the construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany, according to two sources briefed on the decision.

Arizona auditors now say voter data is intact, after sparking GOP feud  —  ‘Exasperated’: GOP Arizona election official reacts to Trump's election lie  —  (CNN)Auditors hired by the Arizona state Senate backtracked Tuesday from claims that a key database had been deleted …

Obama on UFO videos: 'We don't know exactly what they are' … Former President Barack Obama on Monday offered a blunt assessment of the videos of unidentified aerial phenomenon that have continued to gain attention in the United States.  —  “What is true, and I'm actually being serious here …

“Disinformation” is the New Disinformation  —  The media's dismissal of the Wuhan lab leak hypothesis tells us much more about the media than about the hypothesis.  —  6 hr ago  —  There was no Facebook back in 2003.  YouTube wouldn't exist for another two years, Twitter for another three.

Facial recognition, fake identities and digital surveillance tools: Inside the post office's covert internet operations program  —  The post office's law enforcement arm has faced intense congressional scrutiny in recent weeks over its Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) …

America's Satanic Panic Returns — This Time Through QAnon  —  The first time sociologist Mary de Young heard about QAnon, she thought: “Here we go again.”  —  De Young spent her career studying moral panics — specifically, what became known as the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s …

Eleven children receiving NRC trauma care killed in their homes by Israeli air strikes  —  Global Middle East Palestine Children  —  The Norwegian Refugee Council confirmed today that 11 of over 60 children killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza over the last week were participating …

Overturn Roe  —  The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear Mississippi's appeal in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to decide the fate of the state's Gestational Age Act.  That law, passed in 2018 and held in limbo ever since by the courts, bans abortions after 15 weeks except …

Rick Scott continues to plead with Donald Trump to stay out of Senate primaries  —  Will a scorned ex-President play in Senate primaries?  Scott hopes not.  —  U.S. Sen. Rick Scott continues to express hope that former President Donald Trump won't engage against Senate incumbents in 2022.

Ed Gainey Wins Democratic Nomination for Pittsburgh Mayor  —  The state representative will almost certainly be the city's first Black mayor, and his victory follows a year of nationwide social upheaval over police and racial justice issues.  —  State Representative Ed Gainey won …

Twitter's Holocaust problem  —  Accounts cheering the slaughter of Jews are in the clear so long as they occasionally delete their pro-genocide tweets.  —  9 hr ago  —  Twitter plays by a bizarre set of rules.  —  Verified users who tweet in support of the slaughter of Jews …

Charles Grodin, Star of ‘Beethoven’ and ‘Heartbreak Kid,’ Dies at 86  —  A familiar face who was especially adept at deadpan comedy, he also appeared on Broadway in “Same Time, Next Year,” wrote books and had his own talk show.  —  Charles Grodin, the versatile actor familiar from “Same Time …

For some Navy pilots, UFO sightings were an ordinary event: ‘Every day for at least a couple years’  —  When the Navy pilot first spotted the strange object hovering in restricted airspace off the Atlantic Coast, he was stunned — no exhaust plume, no visible engine and all the makings of something secret …

Judge Tosses Michigan Election Lawsuit That Trump Was Still Clinging To  —  END NOTE  —  Last week, more than six months after the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump released a statement claiming that a pending lawsuit in Michigan would, finally, uncover massive election fraud.

“They Want Enough Money to Keep Up the Fight”: New York Media's Top Union Erupts in Conflict Over Cash  —  The NewsGuild of New York, overextended from a spate of organizing, is running into opposition from members over footing the bill.  As one source put it: “The Guild basically wants Times employees to underwrite the revolution.”