Will There Be a War Over Ukraine?  13 Putin Watchers Weigh In  —  Russian President Vladimir Putin sought a confrontation with the West and he got one.  So now what?  —  Diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis appear to have stalled.  In the past month, Putin has escalated his long proxy war …

A Political Scientist Warns the Democratic Party Is Off Course  —  Ruy Teixeira was co-author of one of the most influential political books of the 21st century.  Now, he says, Democrats are getting its lessons all wrong.  —  A funny thing happened on the way to the emerging Democratic majority.

Dr. Oz stumbles out of the gate in Senate race  —  PHILADELPHIA — Mehmet Oz's introduction to GOP grassroots politics is a code-red crisis.  In his first three unofficial tests as a candidate in Pennsylvania's Republican Senate primary, the celebrity physician known as Dr. Oz has been handily rejected by party activists.

Melania Trump auctions off her hat, and has become the latest victim of the cryptocurrency crash  —  The former first lady's chapeau is still far below her asking price.  —  (This article has been updated to reflect that the auction, which was offline for part of Tuesday, is back online.)

How the United States Should Respond if Russia Invades Ukraine  —  A Russian invasion of Ukraine must come at a high cost to the Kremlin. … Senior Director, Media Relations  —  jcusick@americanprogress.org  —  Director, Media Relations  —  shananel@americanprogress.org  —  Government Affairs

Cawthorn Challenge Raises the Question: Who Is an ‘Insurrectionist’?  —  The challenge to Representative Madison Cawthorn's re-election bid could set a precedent to challenge other Republicans who encouraged the Jan. 6 attack.  —  WASHINGTON — A group of lawyers is working to disqualify …

For 1st time in Michigan history, more people died than were born in 2020  —  For the first time in Michigan's recorded history, deaths outpaced births in 2020 — a situation worsened by the wave of deaths from COVID-19, said Kurt Metzger, a demographer who founded Data Driven Detroit and studies Michigan population trends.

Scoop: White House plans expedited resettlement for Afghan refugees  —  President Biden's advisers are crafting a plan to accelerate bringing potentially thousands of Afghans to the U.S. from Qatar, according to a source with direct knowledge of the administration's internal deliberations on the subject.

Virginia's parents can decide what's best for their children  —  Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, is governor of Virginia.  —  In November's election, Virginians came together to declare that too many local leaders were failing a generation of schoolchildren.

Author reveals how Peter Thiel helped Trump cut a deal with Facebook to evade fact checking  —  Scott talks with author and journalist Max Chafkin, who is a features editor and a tech reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek.  Max is the author of “The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power …

Exclusive: Federal prosecutors looking at 2020 fake elector certifications, deputy attorney general tells CNN  —  Trump ends interview after being pressed about false 2020 election claims  —  (CNN)Federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certifications that declared former …

Missouri School District Bans Toni Morrison Book  —  A school board in Missouri has banned four books, including Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, from libraries in the district's high schools, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.  —  The Wentzville School Board voted 4-3 to remove …

As Islamic State Resurges, U.S. Is Drawn Back Into the Fray  —  “ISIS is not over”: Attacks in Syria and Iraq make clear that the militants have lost neither their will to fight nor their ability to do so.  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq — An audacious attack on a prison housing thousands of former ISIS fighters in Syria.

Fishermen plan to disrupt Russian military exercise off Irish coast  —  A group of fishermen is planning to peacefully disrupt Russia's plans to hold a military exercise off the coast of Ireland in February.  —  The chief executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation …

Man Can't Get Heart Transplant Because He's Not Vaccinated Against COVID  —  BOSTON (CBS) - David Ferguson is speaking out passionately on behalf of his son DJ.  He says the 31-year-old is fighting for his life at Brigham and Women's Hospital and in desperate need of a heart transplant.

Biden enters second year with migration plans for Central America unfulfilled  —  President Joe Biden's vow to overhaul the asylum process remains unfulfilled as he enters his second year — as does his promise to deal with the factors in Central America that have prompted millions in recent years to flee for the United States.

'He's a villain': Joe Manchin attracts global anger over climate crisis  —  The West Virginia senator's name is reviled on the streets of Bangladesh and other countries facing climate disaster as he blocks Biden's effort to curb planet-heating gases  —  Within the brutal machinations of US politics …

SALT change likely to be cut from bill, say Senate Democrats  —  Senate Democrats say a proposal to raise the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions, a top priority of Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), is likely to be cut from the revised Build Back Better Act.

Top Human Rights Watch investigator allegedly hacked with Pegasus spyware  —  Allegation marks latest example of how NSO clients have used powerful surveillance tool to target campaigners and journalists  —  The mobile phones of a senior Human Rights Watch staff member are alleged …

Thirteen percent of congressional staffers make less than a living wage, report shows  —  About 1 in 8 congressional staffers are not making a living wage, according to a new analysis of payroll data.  —  The problem is particularly acute for staff assistants, who are often the most junior staffers in congressional offices.

How It Feels to Be an Asian Student in an Elite Public School  —  Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech and other schools across the country are under pressure to end entrance exams.  Students have complicated feelings about that.  —  Tausifa Haque, a 17-year-old daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants …

Trump-backed Herschel Walker reports hauling in nearly $10M since launching GOP Senate bid in Georgia  —  Walker's the front runner in the GOP primary battle to face off in November against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock  —  Herschel Walker calls to ‘Build Back Trust’

Mark Zuckerberg's Stablecoin Ambitions Unravel With Diem Sale Talks  —  The controversial cryptocurrency project that Mark Zuckerberg once defended in front of Congress is unraveling after regulatory pressure.  —  The Diem Association, a cryptocurrency initiative once known as Libra backed …

Sen. Mark Kelly ‘does not support the censure’ of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema  —  Sen. Mark Kelly broke his silence over the censure of his Democratic colleague Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, with a campaign spokesperson saying he disagreed with it and she should not be singled out over her opposition to changing the Senate's filibuster rules.

How Senate Dems reaped the benefits from 2 little-known GOP maneuvers  —  Senate Democrats lost their fight to weaken the filibuster, but they're capitalizing big on another rules change — that the GOP pushed.  —  After an Obama administration marked by Democratic frustration over the pace …

Voting rights legislation was defeated.  But activists are not.  —  Many people were depressed and upset over the outcome, but they're seeking a way forward  —  “Where do we go from here?”  I've been hearing that question quite a bit since federal voting rights legislation was defeated last week.

DontBrowbeatMyPete 😡  —  I still haven't stopped shaking after last night's attack.  Standing at the White House podium, the president of the United States — the most powerful man in the world — launched a violent incursion against my friend Peter Doocy, the finest reporter in history.