Half of the pandemic's unemployment money may have been stolen  —  Criminals may have stolen as much as half of the unemployment benefits the U.S. has been pumping out over the past year, some experts say.  —  Why it matters: Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion …

America's Image Abroad Rebounds With Transition From Trump to Biden  —  But many raise concerns about health of U.S. political system  —  This analysis focuses on public opinion of the United States in 16 advanced economies in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

COVID lab leak raises serious questions about politicization of science, 2020 election  —  The early and near-total dismissal of the lab leak theory played a prominent role in Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential race  —  Lindsey Graham says lab leak theory coverup ‘stinks to high heavens’

The Democratic Senators Hiding Behind Joe Manchin  —  Manchin has long been a “heat shield” for fellow moderates on the thorniest topics, including the filibuster.  He still is, but cracks are beginning to show. … It was March 5, right before the Senate's doomed vote to raise the minimum wage to $15 …

Election Denial and $16 Spritzers: Welcome to Florida's Trump Coast  —  Since he left Washington in turmoil in January, Donald Trump has spent the bulk of his brief, contentious post-presidency holed up in what Karl Rove calls his “Fortress of Solitude”—Mar‑a‑ Lago, his private club in Palm Beach.

On the Sliming of Susan Hennessey  —  I have made a point of staying quiet as the Trumpist right has gone after Lawfare's former executive editor, Susan Hennessey, following her appointment to a position in the Justice Department's National Security Division.

These businesses found a way around the worker shortage: Raising wages to $15 an hour or more  —  The owners of Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor had hit a wall.  —  For months, the 98-year-old confectionary in Pittsburgh couldn't find applicants for the open positions it needed to fill ahead of warmer weather and …

Senate Democrats confirm first Muslim American federal judge  —  Senate Democrats led the confirmation on Thursday of the first Muslim American judge to sit on a federal district court.  —  Judge Zahid Quraishi, whom President Joe Biden nominated in March for the U.S. District Court …

Don't Cry for H.R. 1  —  Amend the Electoral Count Act instead.  —  When Sen. Joe Manchin announced that he would oppose the For the People Act, Steve Benen of MSNBC spoke for many Democrats when he declared that “Joe Manchin is prepared to be remembered by history as the senator who did little …

U.S. Inflation Is Highest in 13 Years as Prices Surge 5%  —  The rapid rise in consumer prices in May reflected a surge in demand and shortages of labor and materials  —  The U.S. economy's rebound from the pandemic is driving the biggest surge in inflation in nearly 13 years, with consumer prices rising in May by 5% from a year ago.

Where Voters Are Losing Patience With Lauren Boebert  —  Charles Perko gestured past a vine-covered chain link fence toward a hulking steel facility with massive mills and squat brick office buildings.  The 140-year-old complex had forged the iron that built the West, and once was Colorado's largest employer, with some 10,000 workers.

Pelosi, leaders seek to squelch Omar controversy with rare joint statement  —  With a rare joint statement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her entire leadership team on Thursday sought to quell a growing controversy over Rep. Ilhan Omar's remarks equating war crimes committed by the U.S …

Kyrsten Sinema gets her make-or-break moment with Republicans  —  Throughout Joe Biden's weeks of infrastructure talks with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito about infrastructure, he was also hearing from another bipartisan broker holding her own quiet talks with Republicans: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

S.F. supervisor Aaron Peskin says he's entering ‘alcohol treatment’ after complaints  —  San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin said Thursday he is entering treatment for alcohol use, a day after The Chronicle asked Peskin about his berating of a department head in a public meeting this week and other complaints about his behavior.

Trump State Department appointee Federico Klein offered plea deal in Capitol riot case  —  Kristine Phillips Kevin JohnsonUSA TODAY  —  WASHINGTON - Plea negotiations are underway in the case of Federico Klein, a former Trump State Department appointee who's accused of charging a police line during the deadly Capitol assault Jan. 6.

Was Trump right about hydroxychloroquine all along?  New study shows drug touted by former president can increase COVID survival rates by 200%  — A study on 255 patients was done by St Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey  — The resulting report, out May 31, found hydroxychloroquine to be effective

Man sentenced to prison for threatening Trump whistleblower's lawyer  —  A Michigan man was sentenced to one year in prison Thursday for sending an email threatening to hunt down and bleed out like a “pig” an attorney for the whistleblower who set in motion President Donald Trump's first impeachment.

Only in our anti-truth hellscape could Anthony Fauci become a supervillain  —  Right-wing commentators are pretending that thousands of newly released emails from Anthony S. Fauci represent some kind of smoking gun against the government's top infectious-disease expert, whom they have recently decided to try to destroy.

Shelby sides against Trump in Alabama Senate race  —  Republican Richard Shelby is backing his former chief of staff Katie Boyd Britt in the race to succeed him in the Senate, siding against former President Donald Trump's favored candidate, Rep. Mo Brooks.  —  “She's like family.

Photos: Biden visits Europe in first presidential overseas trip  —  Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive on Air Force One at Cornwall Airport Newquay, near Newquay, England.  —  Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and President Biden with first lady Jill Biden …

The “Lab-leak” inquiry at the State Department:  —  An Open Letter by former Assistant Secretary Christopher Ford  —  In both journalism and policymaking — if not always in politics, or in the sordid world of score-settling by unemployed, second-rate apparatchiks — facts matter, and intellectual integrity matters.

14 GOP-Controlled States Have Passed Laws to Impede Free Elections  —  Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.  —  Donald Trump will not be “reinstated” as president by August …

The lingering questions about the clearing of Lafayette Square  —  The most important question asked about the clearing of Lafayette Square on June 1 of last year came that day from then-Attorney General William P. Barr.  —  Barr had come out of the White House shortly after President Donald Trump's staff …

Google Seeks to Break Vicious Cycle of Online Slander  —  In response to Times articles, the search giant is changing its algorithm, part of a major shift in how Google polices harmful content.  —  For many years, the vicious cycle has spun: Websites solicit lurid, unverified complaints …

WAKES  —  UP  —  During the pandemic, one of New York City's greatest qualities — its delirious density — became a liability.  New Yorkers had to adjust to a strange new reality, in which avoiding one another was the safe and responsible choice.  But last month, with the vaccination rate soaring …

How ARE You Supposed To Rank New York's Mayoral Candidates?  And Other Questions From The Chaotic, Confusing Campaign  —  One day this spring, mayoral candidate Scott Stringer held a press conference right next to the outdoor pandemic setup of a high-end steakhouse, where a woman sitting …

The Final Stages of the Con: Donald Trump, Stolen Elections, and Delusion  —  In 1986, televangelist Peter Popoff was at the top of his game.  Popoff had a wildly successful ministry which centered around faith healing.  Walking amidst a vast audience, he would approach apparent strangers.

Pence eyes his political future as he tries to make peace with Trump  —  (CNN)Six months after their relationship deteriorated in the midst of an insurrection at the US Capitol, Donald Trump and Mike Pence appear to be on the mend.  —  As Pence drops hints about his White House ambitions …

The Far-Right Paramilitary Wannabes Feeding Mike Flynn's Conspiracy Machine  —  ROMAN SUPPLEMENTS  —  The ‘1st Amendment Praetorian’ group has become an on-call security and intelligence team for the most extreme and esoteric of Trumpists.  —  When QAnon conspiracy theorists descended …