Leaked Audio of Sen. Joe Manchin Call With Billionaire Donors Provides Rare Glimpse of Dealmaking on Filibuster and January 6 Commission … West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, in a private call on Monday with a group of major donors, provided a revealing look at his political approach to the most thorny issues confronting lawmakers.

Biden wiped the smirk off Putin's face  —  Seasoning and sobriety are underappreciated virtues in politics.  Voters normally opt for novelty and excitement when choosing a president.  The result is that we usually wind up with foreign policy neophytes in the Oval Office.

Justice Dept. Ends Criminal Inquiry, Lawsuit on John Bolton's Book  —  President Donald J. Trump had pressured the department to use its legal powers to stop his former national security adviser from publishing embarrassing details about him.  —  The Justice Department has closed …

House passes bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday … The House on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of making Juneteenth a national federal holiday with a 415-14 tally, and Democrats are hopeful President Joe Biden will sign the measure into law by Saturday.

2 South Carolina executions halted until firing squad formed  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the planned executions of two inmates by electrocution, saying they cannot be put to death until they truly have the choice of the firing squad option set …

EXCLUSIVE: ‘No yellow!’  Hunter Biden used slur to refer to Asians in 2019 texts with his cousin Caroline who asked if he preferred ‘foreign or domestic’ women - as he's already been blasted as racist for using the n-word  — Hunter Biden referred to Asians with the offensive term 'yellow …

10 GOP senators back bipartisan infrastructure plan, boosting its chances of moving forward  — Ten Republican senators now support a bipartisan infrastructure framework, which would give a bill enough votes to pass the Senate if all Democrats get on board.

Scardina v. Masterpiece Cakeshop  —  Description: The same attorney who filed an unsuccessful complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission in 2017 commenced a lawsuit in state court over the same custom cake request the attorney made at that time.  The request was for a custom-designed cake …

‘Pure insanity’: How Trump and his allies pressured the Justice Department to help overturn the election  —  New documents and emails reveal how far the president and his supporters were willing to go to try to keep Donald Trump in office in a frenzied three-week stretch that tested Justice Department leaders.

IT IS OBSCENE: A TRUE REFLECTION IN THREE PARTS  —  When you are a public figure, people will write and say false things about you.  It comes with the territory.  Many of those things you brush aside.  Many you ignore.  The people close to you advise you that silence is best.  And it often is.

Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Forceful on Jan. 6, Privately Are in Turmoil  —  The far-right groups face a cash squeeze, internal discord, social-media cutoff and isolation from the financial system  —  The far-right group the Oath Keepers is splintering after board members accused the founder …

Victoria's Secret Swaps Angels for ‘What Women Want.’ Will They Buy It?  —  The embattled lingerie giant is attempting the most extreme brand turnaround in recent memory: an effort not just to redefine itself but also the very idea of what “sexy” is.  —  The Victoria's Secret Angels …

CIA Names David Marlowe to Run Espionage Operations  —  Will oversee undercover officers who recruit foreign spies, from foreign government officials to members of terrorist networks  —  WASHINGTON—In his first major personnel move, CIA Director William Burns has tapped a 30-year agency veteran …

Aide says former Homeland Security head Tom Ridge had stroke  —  HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge suffered a stroke Wednesday at his home in suburban Washington, D.C., a longtime aide to the former Pennsylvania governor said.

The Forever-Trump Movement Has Won  —  The 45th president lost an election and incited a failed insurrection, but his grip on the GOP is absolute.  What's next for a party at war with democracy — and the future?  —  The heretics left the champagne and orange juice untouched, but the conversation flowed freely all the same.

How Democrats could win Alaska's Senate seat thanks to ranked-choice voting  —  Republicans need to keep all of their current Senate seats to have a shot at regaining control of the Senate in the 2022 midterms.  A conservative insurgency combined with a new ranked-choice voting system may put GOP control of Alaska in doubt.

American College Student Freedom, Progress and Flourishing Survey  —  The American College Student Freedom, Progress and Flourishing Survey is an annual survey conducted by the Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth.  The survey assesses student perceptions …

Why Remote Learning Is a Failure  —  Ms. Almagor teaches fourth grade at a public charter school in Washington, D.C.  —  Our prepandemic public school system was imperfect, surely, clumsy and test-crazed and plagued with inequities.  But it was also a little miraculous …

Biden Spending Plans Remain Popular  —  But presidential job rating takes a dip  —  West Long Branch, NJ - Joe Biden's job rating has taken a dip as progress on his spending plans has stalled.  The latest Monmouth ("Mon-muth") University Poll finds a majority of the American public continues …

Leading Manhattan DA Candidate Has Repeatedly Paid Virtually No Federal Income Taxes  —  Tali Farhadian Weinstein, who donated $8 million to her own campaign, and her hedge fund manager husband paid nothing (or almost nothing) to the IRS four times in six years.  —  The Secret IRS Files

Royal Caribbean delays cruise ship after 8 crew members test positive for Covid … Royal Caribbean International is delaying the inaugural sailing of its Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship after eight crew members tested positive for Covid-19, officials said Tuesday.

In A First, A Man At The D.C. Jail Just Won A Local Election  —  There's a new elected official in D.C. — and he lives inside the D.C. Jail.  —  Joel Caston won an unprecedented election on Tuesday for a seat on a Ward 7 Advisory Neighborhood Commission, besting four other candidates who are also incarcerated in the jail.

Obama Presidential Center Delay to Set Modern Record  —  Activists have slowed construction of $700 million campus that could see late-summer groundbreaking  —  CHICAGO—Former President Barack Obama, once a community organizer, has gotten a taste of community organizing himself as preservationists …

U.S.-Russia Presidential Joint Statement on Strategic Stability  —  We, President of the United States of America Joseph R. Biden and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, note the United States and Russia have demonstrated that, even in periods of tension …

School Privatization Lobby Places Fake News on Local Stations … On a weekly basis over the last three years, an arm of the national school privatization lobbying group the American Federation for Children has been producing fake news segments and distributing them to local news stations.