Russia threatens retaliation if Ukraine demands not met  —  MOSCOW (AP) — Russia warned Wednesday it would quickly take “retaliatory measures” if the U.S. and its allies reject its security demands and continue their “aggressive” policies, ratcheting up pressure on the West amid concerns that Moscow is planning to invade Ukraine.

Florida Shock Jock in Matt Gaetz Circle Pleads Guilty  —  The feds are closing in on Rep. Matt Gaetz for his alleged underage sex crimes with yet another criminal case, this time against a key witness: his wingman's best friend. … “Big Joe” Ellicott, a former Florida shock jock …

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.)

'She was Zoom'd out:' Veep mulls escape from D.C. bubble  —  Sitting among some of the most influential Black women in America last month, Vice President Kamala Harris confessed to a stifling sensation that had fallen over her while in office.  She was struggling to escape the D.C. bubble …

New Jersey political consultant Sean Caddle pleads guilty in murder-for-hire plot  —  The 44-year-old resident of Hamburg, Sussex County, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire in the stabbing death of the unnamed victim.  —  The New Jersey state house is pictured.

Leaked Chats Reveal Fascist Group Patriot Front Shames Members About Their Porn, Junk Food Habits  —  The inner workings of the group were laid bare after the release of 400 gigabytes of data by the left-wing collective Unicorn Riot.  —  TO  —  It shouldn't be a surprise that fascists rule …

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 …

Canceled NY mask mandate is uncanceled again... for now  —  Yesterday we discussed the ruling of a New York State supreme court judge who issued an injunction against Governor Kathy Hochul's statewide face mask mandate.  The judge found that the mandate violated two different state laws …

Kansas bill forces pharmacists to fill ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine as off-label COVID treatment  —  TOPEKA, Kansas - A group of Kansas politicians tasked with steering public health policy are pushing to allow doctors to prescribe unproven treatments and preventives for COVID-19 without any potential for responsibility.

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.

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 …

Matea Gold named National Editor, Philip Rucker named Deputy National Editor  —  Announcement from Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, Senior Managing Editor Cameron Barr, Managing Editor Steven Ginsberg, Managing Editor Tracy Grant, Managing Editor Krissah Thompson, and Chief Product Officer and Managing Editor Kat Downs Mulder:

Partisanship Made the Omicron Crisis Worse  —  On Monday, at least 2,181 Americans died from COVID-19.  Over the past week, average daily COVID deaths in the United States have risen to 2,369 — the highest death rate the country has seen in nearly a year.  Given the lag time between spiking cases …

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.

Ridgeland Mayor Demands LGBTQ+ Book Purge, Threatens Library Funding  —  Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee is withholding $110,000 of funding from the Madison County Library System allegedly on the basis of his personal religious beliefs, with library officials stating that he has demanded …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

‘The most dangerous man in Congress’: how Paul Gosar became a darling of the far right  —  Once fringe, now dominant in the party, rightwing Republicans are strategizing for minoritarian rule  —  he Arizona Republican congressman Paul Gosar had a simple message for the crowd when he recently addressed …

Prosecutors explained the plot of ‘Game of Thrones’ to argue that a rioter quoting Cersei Lannister was proof of criminal intent  — Jeremiah Caplinger quoted from “Game of Thrones” in a social media post days after the Capitol riot.  — “As said by Cersi Lannister 'I choose violence …

Domestic extremists have plotted to disrupt U.S. power grid, DHS bulletin warns  —  Domestic violent extremists have been planning to try to disrupt the U.S. power grid and will probably keep doing so, according to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin shared …

Special report: How Stefanik won power and support for spreading Trump's ‘Big Lie’  —  The false claim that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent or stolen lives on.  —  Former president Donald Trump continues to spread what's become known as the “Big Lie” — because it's a baseless myth — to this day.

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 trails generic Republican in new poll, would face tight race against Trump  —  A poll published on Wednesday found that almost half of those surveyed said they would vote for a generic Republican candidate over President Biden if the election was held now, but he would face a close race against former President Trump.

Federal judge rejects challenge to ‘weighty and urgent’ Jan. 6 committee  —  A federal judge in California on Tuesday delivered a forceful defense of the Jan. 6 select committee's efforts, sharply rejecting a bid by attorney John Eastman — a key driver of Donald Trump's effort to subvert the 2020 election …

DeSantis' Demented Doc Is About to Get the Grilling He Deserves  —  STRAIGHT-UP OPPORTUNIST … He doesn't deserve to be the state's surgeon general.  It hardly seems like he deserves to be a doctor at all.  —  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a politician by profession …

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 …