Joe Manchin reaches out to Republicans, and they slap him in the face  —  On Thursday morning, leading voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams dropped a big piece of news: She told CNN she supports Sen. Joe Manchin III's (D-W.Va.) compromise bill to protect democracy.  —  Republicans were thrilled.

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 …

Op-Ed: Giving people a license to discriminate because of their religious beliefs  —  Under long-standing constitutional law, religious beliefs do not provide an exemption from civil rights laws and cannot be used as an excuse for discrimination.  —  Yet the Supreme Court on Thursday …

New national holiday sets off scramble to shut down governments nationwide Friday  —  Biden signs bill into law making Juneteenth a national holiday  —  Washington (CNN)States across the country are scrambling to close their government offices Friday after President Joe Biden signed legislation …

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.

Health care ruling saves Republicans from themselves  —  The Supreme Court saved the health care system from imploding Thursday by dismissing a Republican challenge to the Affordable Care Act.  But it also saved the GOP itself from another round of intraparty chaos.

In first, U.S. charges Jan. 6 defendant with bringing firearms to Capitol under controversial federal rioting law  —  U.S. prosecutors for the first time have charged a defendant in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach with violating a federal law that makes it a crime to transport a firearm or explosive for unlawful use in a riot.

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 …

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 …

Blade, the Uber for helicopters and chartered jets, had a fake spokesperson for 3 years  — Before Blade went public, spokesman Simon McLaren would rep the helicopter service in publications.  — When Insider sought to confirm McLaren's identity, a Blade employee initially said McLaren was real.

Many Expected to Shun Iran Vote Seen as Presidential Race of One  —  An ultraconservative judiciary chief appears to have the only real chance of winning after a council of powerful clerics disqualified virtually all the other viable candidates.  —  TEHRAN — Come presidential election time …

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.

Nicaragua Denies Entry to New York Times Journalist Amid Escalating Crisis  —  The refusal to admit the reporter comes amid a nationwide crackdown on journalists, opposition politicians and civil society groups.  —  MEXICO CITY — A New York Times journalist was denied entry into Nicaragua …

We Won the Cold War, Right?  Right?  —  The state trudges on while the soul of the nation atrophies.  —  6 hr ago … - Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History  —  Leo Strauss wrote those lines in 1949 referring to the depressing fact that though Germany had been defeated in war …

Putin says Biden is of ‘sound mind,’ walking back on Russian disinformation about the president's mental acuity  — Putin backtracked on Russian propaganda about Biden's mental health.  — The Russian leader said Biden is “of sound mind and should be taken seriously.”

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.

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 …

North Korea's Kim vows to be ready for confrontation with US  —  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his government to be prepared for both dialogue and confrontation with the Biden administration — but more for confrontation — state media reported Friday …

Taiwan Wants German Vaccines.  China May Be Standing in Its Way.  —  The two sides have traded accusations about whether political motivations are keeping the Taiwanese people from receiving immunizations amid the island's first major Covid-19 outbreak.  —  TAIPEI, Taiwan — This is the age of “vaccine diplomacy.”

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 …

Open Letter to Every Dad in America: Please Join #DadsForGunSafety  —  A personal Father's Day plea from Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the Parkland shooting.  —  To Every Dad Across America:  —  My name is Fred Guttenberg and I am a father of two children, Jesse and Jaime.