Biden signs bill making Juneteenth a national holiday; federal workers to get Friday off  —  President Biden on Thursday signed into law a bill creating a federal holiday to commemorate Juneteenth, the day marking the end of slavery in Texas.  Because June 19 falls on a Saturday this year …

GOP crushes Manchin's hopes for elections compromise  —  Senate Republicans spent months praising Joe Manchin for his insistence on cross-party compromise.  Next week they will almost surely end his hopes for a bipartisan deal on elections.  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell …

Putin polls higher than Biden among Trump voters  —  In new Economist/YouGov polling, Russian President Vladimir Putin polls higher than President Biden among Trump voters.

Parents who opposed critical race theory on Fox News are GOP activists, report says … Fox News failed to fully disclose the professional conservative ties of 11 guests featured in numerous segments about the teaching of critical race theory in schools, according to a new report from Media Matters …

Where was the FBI before the attack on the Capitol?  —  Ryan Goodman, a former special counsel at the Defense Department, is a law professor at New York University and co-editor-in-chief at Just Security.  Andrew Weissmann, a law professor at New York University, previously served as general counsel of the FBI.

Washington's Dangerous New Consensus on China … The unprecedented global challenges that the United States faces today—climate change, pandemics, nuclear proliferation, massive economic inequality, terrorism, corruption, authoritarianism—are shared global challenges.

Rumors of U.S. Secretly Harboring Top China Official Swirl  —  Reports that a top Chinese official defected to the U.S. have swept Chinese-language media this week.  The alleged reason?  Sharing sensitive information about COVID-19 origins.  —  Chinese-language anti-communist media …

The Company Eric Adams Keeps He's the candidate of old political-machine guys like Democratic fixer Frank Carone.  What would that mean in City Hall?  —  Heading into Memorial Day weekend, a poll had just shown Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams with his largest lead of the contest …

Here's what $15,000 will buy lobbyists on Sen. Mike Crapo's pay-for-access price list  — Crapo is the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.  — He offers prospective donors three levels of access at different donation price points.  — One reform advocate called …

In secret recording, Florida Republican threatens to send Russian-Ukrainian ‘hit squad’ after rival  —  MIAMI — A little-known GOP candidate in one of Florida's most competitive congressional seats was secretly recorded threatening to send “a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” to a fellow Republican opponent to make her “disappear.”

How To End Up Serving The Right … Journalists Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi have a long track record of work that exposes the crimes of the powerful.  Both were early intellectual heroes of mine; Taibbi was one of the first writers to see through Barack Obama's hollow rhetoric …

Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti deserves ‘very substantial’ prison time, prosecutors say  —  Prosecutors urged a judge Wednesday to impose a “very substantial” prison sentence on Michael Avenatti for trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike.  —  Prosecutors noted in a Manhattan …

Records link big business group to Florida elections probe  —  Investigators searching for the source of more than half-a-million dollars spent last year in support of spoiler candidates that helped Republicans win three key state Senate races have obtained bank records for an organization tied …

St. Louis gun-waving couple pleads guilty to misdemeanors  —  ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis couple who gained notoriety for pointing guns at social justice demonstrators last year pleaded guilty Thursday to misdemeanor charges and agreed to give up the weapons they used during the confrontation.

Pack-a-day puffer Kathryn Garcia would be first cigarette-smoking mayor since '65 … City Hall hasn't had a cigarette smoker-in-residence since Mayor Robert Wagner left office in 1965 — but that would change if former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia wins the June 22 Democratic primary.

Democracy Is Surprisingly Easy to Undermine  —  Here's a quiz: Which world leader made the following statements? … If you guessed Donald Trump, you are only one-third right.  The first statement was made by Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Israeli prime minister, soon after his opponents formed a parliamentary coalition to oust him.

Netanyahu Ordered Illegal Shredding of Docs at His Office Before Bennett Took Over, Sources Say  —  The material was kept in safes in the so-called ‘aquarium,’ where prime ministers and their most senior aides sit.  It's unclear which, or how many, documents were destroyed at Netanyahu's orders

Elise Stefanik's post on democracy group board sparked a staff uproar  —  New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election and voted against certification of Joe Biden's win, currently serves as a board member for a revered U.S. organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy.

BREAKING NEWS: Former White House doctor Ronny Jackson and 13 Republican Reps send letter to Biden urging him take a cognitive test to prove he is ‘mentally fit to be commander in chief’  —  Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who served as Donald Trump's White House physician …