The Moral Collapse of J. D. Vance  —  What do we call a man who turns on everything he once claimed to believe?  For a practitioner of petty and self-serving duplicity, we use “sellout” or “backstabber.”  (Sometimes we impugn the animal kingdom and call him a rat, a skunk, or a weasel.)

Top U.S. General Said Trump Preached ‘Gospel of the Führer’  —  General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, likened Donald Trump's effort to hold on to power after the 2020 election to Adolf Hitler, saying the president was preaching “the gospel of the Führer” …

The Deeply Racist Dimensions To Ashli Babbitt's Martyrdom  —  “Who killed Ashli Babbitt?”  —  It's a question that, in recent weeks, has become a mainstream rallying cry among the MAGA crew after growing in volume for months on the far-right fringes.  Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has asked it repeatedly …

Inside Facebook's Data Wars  —  Executives at the social network have clashed over CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned data tool that revealed users' high engagement levels with right-wing media sources.  —  One day in April, the people behind CrowdTangle, a data analytics tool owned by Facebook, learned that transparency had limits.

Robin DiAngelo Wants White Progressives to Look Inward  —  The author of “White Fragility” discusses her new book, “Nice Racism.”  —  In 2018, Robin DiAngelo, an academic and anti-racism consultant, published the surprise best-seller “White Fragility.”  The book, which argues that white people tend …

For Democrats, Money Is Just a Number  —  Why stop at $3.5 trillion?  Why not $5 trillion or $10 trillion?  —  The Democrats just unveiled a new $3.5 trillion spending package that, when combined with the $600 billion bipartisan proposal tentatively in place, adds up to a lot of money.

George W. Bush says ending U.S. military mission in Afghanistan is a mistake  —  Former president George W. Bush said he believes the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is a mistake, in rare public remarks on the military intervention he launched nearly two decades ago.

Drug overdoses soared to a record 93,000 last year  —  Deaths from drug overdoses soared to more than 93,000 last year, a staggering record that reflects the coronavirus pandemic's toll on efforts to quell the crisis and the continued spread of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the illegal narcotic supply …

FBI failed to pursue Nassar sex-abuse allegations, inspector general finds  —  The FBI failed to properly investigate sex-abuse allegations against Larry Nassar, the former doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, according to a scathing report by the Justice Department's Inspector General …

Michigan GOP executive who blamed Trump for election loss resigns leadership post  —  Dave Boucher Clara HendricksonDetroit Free Press  —  A Michigan Republican Party leader who faced grassroots pushback after saying the 2020 presidential election wasn't stolen and blaming ex-President Donald Trump …

How Tucker Carlson became the voice of White grievance  —  Tucker Carlson huddled in a low-ceilinged dungeon that had served as a holding pen for Africans bound for enslavement in the United States.  It was a July day in 2003 in Ghana, and Carlson stood alongside some of America's most prominent civil rights leaders.

Britney Spears granted right to hire own lawyer; accuses father of ‘conservatorship abuse’ … LOS ANGELES — Britney Spears was granted a request to hire her own attorney on Wednesday, a development that could mark a major shift in how her 13-year conservatorship case has been handled.

Bolsonaro in hospital as hiccups persist for more than 10 days  — President, 66, to be observed by doctors for next 48 hours  — Speculation grows over health of Brazil's far-right leader  —  The Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been admitted to hospital complaining of abdominal pain …

Poll: 1.8 million Americans have turned down jobs due to unemployment benefits  —  About 1.8 million out-of-work Americans have turned down jobs because of the generosity of unemployment insurance benefits, according to Morning Consult poll results released Wednesday.

US to begin evacuation of Afghans who aided US military  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is set to begin evacuations of Afghans who aided the U.S. military effort in the nearly 20-year war during the last week of July, according to a senior administration official.

Biden Taps Son of Top Dem Donor for Product Safety Post  —  President Joe Biden on Tuesday tapped the son of one of his closest political allies to an important federal post.  —  Biden appointed Rich Trumka Jr., son of AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, to the Consumer Product Safety Commission …

Two-thirds of Southern Republicans want to secede  —  And that number is rising  —  A new YouGov survey conducted on behalf of a democracy watchdog group finds that 66 percent of Republicans living in the South say they'd support seceding from the United States to join a union with other Southern states.

Ex-Kamala Harris staffers have bad memories of a toxic culture in her past offices and are texting each other about it  — Some former Harris staffers are feeling vindicated after reports of dysfunction in her office.  — They're texting one another and having flashbacks about their time working for her.

My Friends Were Sent to the Camps  —  If you took an Uber in Washington, D.C., a couple of years ago, there was a chance your driver was one of the greatest living Uyghur poets.  Tahir Hamut Izgil arrived with his family in the United States in 2017, fleeing the Chinese government's merciless persecution of his people.

Groups sue to block enforcement of DeSantis' anti-riot law as Cuban violators in FL go largely untouched  —  Quality Journalism for Critical Times  —  Civil rights groups have asked a federal judge to block enforcement of HB 1, Gov. Ron DeSantis' crackdown on street protests …

Welcome to Year Zero  —  A Tentative Beginning in a Subdued Key  —  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of America announced last year that it would set diversity quotas for any film eligible to win a best picture award.  In order to enforce these targets …

Tennessee abandons vaccine outreach to minors — not just for COVID-19  —  The Tennessee Department of Health will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach - not just for coronavirus, but all diseases - amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers, according to an internal report and agency emails obtained by the Tennessean.

‘We are seeing people passing quicker than before’: What hospitals look like in US Covid hot spots  —  (CNN)Dr. Sergio Segarra says when Covid-19 patient numbers in the Miami hospital he works in dipped below 20 last month, he began feeling optimistic.  —  “I remember seeing articles …

More than 150 companies back update to Voting Rights Act  —  More than 150 companies, including PepsiCo, Amazon and Target, threw their support behind updating the Voting Rights Act in a letter released Wednesday.  —  The signatories, all U.S. employers, urged Congress to enact …

Why Cuba is having an economic crisis  —  Three crises and a whole lot of bad policy decisions have driven hungry Cubans into the streets.  —  6 hr ago  —  Cuba is in chaos.  A wave of protest has been followed by internet blackouts, reports of shootings, lists of missing persons …

‘He wished he had gotten the vaccine:’ Local man battling COVID-19 from ICU for months  —  GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Blake Bargatze, 24, was the only one in his family to not get vaccinated and now he remains in a hospital ICU more than three months after contracting COVID-19, according to his family.

Inside the Industry That Unmasks People At Scale  —  Unique IDs linked to phones are supposed to be anonymous.  But there's an entire industry that links them to real people and their address.  —  Joseph Cox  —  Tech companies have repeatedly reassured the public that trackers used …

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the Travel Mask Mandate Repeal Act of 2021, legislation to prohibit the imposition of mask mandates on public transportation.  U.S. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-5) will be introducing companion legislation …

Inside Shepard Smith's Post-Fox News Crash on CNBC  —  The ex-Fox anchor's much-hyped new show has failed to bring in viewers and, per insiders, it has struggled with some internal turmoil, including “regular tantrums” from Smith.  —  Whether it's a poor time slot, behind-the-scenes squabbles …

There Goes Biden's ‘Moderate’ Brand  —  President Biden's implicit promise to turn down the temperature and restore normal patterns of rhetoric to the presidency can no longer be taken seriously after yesterday's ridiculous episode of hyperventilation disguised as a speech.

Whodunit?  Trump.  New Books Dig Into the Crimes We All Saw Him Commit.  —  YEAR FOR THE BOOKS  —  As if living through 2020 wasn't enough, now we have to read about it.  Seriously, though, some of these books about Trump and the pandemic are actually worth the pain.

Florida Dems to Biden: Don't blow ‘golden opportunity’ on Cuba  —  MIAMI — Donald Trump and the GOP dominated Florida's elections last November in part due to the former president's hardline Latin America policy and rhetoric.  —  Now, in Cuba's historic uprisings, Florida Democrats …

Biden's civil rights nominee remains unapologetically divisive on Title IX  —  The Department of Education's former civil rights head Catherine Lhamon has not changed much over the past four years.  —  On Tuesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing …

Family of five charged for allegedly storming the Capitol after tipster provides social media screenshots  —  For five people arrested this week after they were charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly storming the U.S. Capitol, the Jan. 6 insurrection appeared to be a family affair.