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 …

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 …

Putin Hails Biden After Russian Senator Questions U.S. Leader's Fitness  — Legislator asked about Russian reports on Biden health  — Putin warmly praises Biden while getting a dig in at Psaki  —  Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the door on state-media speculation …

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's Rise Continues To Fascinate In ‘Dissent’  —  The past 4 1/2 years have been a fever dream in American politics.  —  Donald Trump's administration was marked by unprecedented chaos and drama, with major stories crowding one another out of the news on a daily basis.

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.

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.

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.”

Fox's anti-"critical race theory" parents are also GOP activists  —  One '"everyday American" '"parent" is a GOP consultant who worked for the RNC in 2020  —  Nearly a dozen of the Fox News guests the network has presented as concerned parents or educators who oppose the teaching of so-called …

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 …

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 …

Biden signs into law bill establishing Juneteenth as federal holiday  —  WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law Thursday, officially making June 19 a federal holiday and giving national recognition to a day commemorating emancipation.

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 …

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.

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 …

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

Missouri gov, attorney general fire back at Biden DOJ over ‘federal overreach’ on 2nd Amendment rights  —  DOJ says that Missouri's law ‘conflicts with federal firearms laws and regulation’  —  Gun rights shielded in Utah  —  Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and and state Attorney General (AG) …

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 …

A Pill to Treat Covid-19?  The U.S. Is Betting on It.  —  A new $3.2 billion program will support the development of antiviral pills, which could start arriving by the end of this year.  —  The U.S. government spent more than $18 billion last year funding drugmakers to make a Covid vaccine …

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.

Officers, sergeants resign en masse from Portland's Rapid Response Team crowd control unit  —  Officers who serve on the Portland Police Bureau's specialized crowd control unit, known as the Rapid Response Team, voted to resign from the team during a meeting Wednesday night then alerted the chief's office …