Manchin breaks with party leaders over strategy on debt ceiling and Biden's economic package  —  (CNN)Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday pushed back on several politically sensitive positions his party leaders are taking at a crucial time for President Joe Biden's domestic agenda.

What's Wrong With Kyrsten Sinema?  —  In 2003, Joe Lieberman, at the time the worst Democratic senator, traveled to Arizona to campaign for his party's presidential nomination and was regularly greeted by antiwar demonstrators.  “He's a shame to Democrats,” said the organizer of a protest outside …

As the U.S. Hurtles Toward a Debt Crisis, What Does McConnell Want?  —  Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, has a long record of tying debt ceiling increases to policy demands.  But with a catastrophic default two weeks away, he has yet to make any.

Francis Collins to step down as director of the National Institutes of Health  —  Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., today announced his decision to end his tenure as the director of the National Institutes of Health by the end of the year.  Dr. Collins is the longest serving presidentially …

Facebook is harming our society.  Here's a radical solution for reining it in.  —  Frances Haugen, who revealed herself Sunday as the Facebook whistleblower, could not have made things any clearer.  —  “Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer …

Criminal inquiry into Trump's Georgia election interference gathers steam  —  The disgraced former president faces a range of possible charges - including conspiracy and election fraud  —  Donald Trump is facing increasing legal scrutiny in the crucial battleground state of Georgia …

Mike Pence Says Media Focus on January 6 Is a Media Distraction Meant to ‘Demean’ Trump Supporters  —  Former Vice President Mike Pence said the focus on January 6th is a distraction intended to “demean” millions of Trump supporters.  —  Pence spoke with Sean Hannity Monday night …

Trillion-dollar platinum coin could be minted at the last minute  —  A trillion-dollar platinum coin could be minted “within hours of the Treasury Secretary's decision to do so,” Philip Diehl, former director of the United States Mint, tells Axios.  —  Why it matters: Congressional solutions …

Biggest tax haven in U.S.?  South Dakota, says Pandora Papers investigation  —  Mention tax havens, and most people imagine small nations with balmy weather: The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Malta.  —  But South Dakota and a handful of other U.S. states are increasingly competing as landing pads …

The Once and Future Threat of Trump  —  Last fall, before the November election, Barton Gellman wrote an essay for The Atlantic sketching out a series of worst-case scenarios for the voting and its aftermath.  It was essentially a blueprint for how Donald Trump could either force the country …

Garland taps FBI in response to ‘disturbing spike’ in threats against educators  —  Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday ordered federal law enforcement authorities to huddle with local leaders in the coming weeks to address what the nation's top prosecutor called a recent …

What WaPo Writers Keep Getting Wrong about 2020  —  No, Trump didn't come close to overturning the election, and it's alright to say so.  —  elling people to take a deep breath and calm down, as the headline-writer for my latest column advised, does not always achieve its intended effect.

Once lauded as heroes, health care workers are now spit on and ‘threatened every day at work’  —  When Tom Kelsch heads to his job as a registered nurse in Mercy Health Muskegon's emergency department, he knows, almost without a doubt, that he'll be threatened by a patient or their family that day.

MIT Abandons Its Mission.  And Me.  —  Let's make sure my cancellation is the last.  That begins by standing up and saying no to the mob.  —  I am a professor who just had a prestigious public science lecture at MIT cancelled because of an outrage mob on Twitter.  My crime?

‘Some are just psychopaths’: Chinese detective in exile reveals extent of torture against Uyghurs  —  (CNN)The raids started after midnight in Xinjiang.  —  Hundreds of police officers armed with rifles went house to house in Uyghur communities in the far western region of China …

Wholesale Invasion USA  —  Waves of illegal immigrants flood across the U.S. southern border - with no end in sight.  —  The Biden administration is aiding and abetting a wholesale invasion of the United States by illegal immigrants, with no idea of whether they are infected with COVID-19 or not.

Kamala Harris and the Truth about Israel  —  There are some things even the most skilled spin-master can't spin.  Last week Vice President Kamala Harris' new crisis communications manager had something of a baptism of fire trying to clean up after her boss, after the vice president failed …

Records show slow response to report of California oil spill  —  HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard received the first report of a possible oil spill off the Southern California coast more than 12 hours before a company reported the major leak in its pipeline and a cleanup effort was launched, records show.

Taiwan and the Fight for Democracy … The story of Taiwan is one of resilience—of a country upholding democratic, progressive values while facing a constant challenge to its existence.  Our success is a testament to what a determined practitioner of democracy, characterized by good governance and transparency, can achieve.