“This Does Not Fit the Crime”: CNN Employees Continue to Push Back on the Fall of Jeff Zucker  —  One reporter told WarnerMedia chief Jason Kilar during a tense meeting on Wednesday that she was fielding calls from congresspeople, including a member of the January 6 committee …

U.S. Exposes What It Says Is Russian Effort to Fabricate Pretext for Invasion  —  Officials said Russia was planning a fake video showing an attack by Ukrainians on Russian territory or Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.  —  WASHINGTON — The United States has acquired intelligence …

Zuckerberg Tells Staff to Focus on Video Products as Meta's Stock Plunges  —  Mark Zuckerberg quipped that if he started to cry, it wasn't because of the day's news.  —  His red, teary eyes were the result of a scratched cornea, the Facebook founder said Thursday, attempting to lighten …

NBC Opens Olympics With ‘Worst Hand Imaginable’  —  John Koblin has covered the media industry for more than a decade.  —  Last year, NBC Sports executives called the Tokyo Olympics their most challenging undertaking ever.  —  Now that experience is starting to look like a cakewalk.

Biden: US raid in Syria killed top Islamic State leader  —  ATMEH, Syria (AP) — A U.S. special forces raid in northwestern Syria early Thursday killed the top leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, President Joe Biden said.  —  “Thanks to the skill and bravery …

Kim Reynolds ending COVID disaster declaration, shutting down vaccination and case count websites … Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Thursday that she will soon end public health disaster proclamations that Iowa has operated under since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly two years ago.

Why are Democrats struggling with working class voters?  Don't blame ‘wokeness.’  —  With President Biden set to meet New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, pundits will spin this as a sign of profound political failure on Democrats' part, an act of ritual penitence for failing to treat rising crime as a serious issue.

Sarah Palin's lawyers admit ‘uphill’ fight in libel suit against New York Times  —  NEW YORK — Attorneys for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin opened her libel case over a New York Times editorial here Thursday by acknowledging one thing that may have doomed her lawsuit from the beginning …

QAnon Flags Fly Onscreen After Fox News Describes Anti-Vax Truckers as ‘Mainstream’  —  This isn't the first time that Fox News has—knowingly or unknowingly—boosted the bonkers far-right conspiracy theory.  —  Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner on Thursday teed up a segment on the Canadian …

Senators close in on ‘mother of all sanctions’ bill against Russia  —  Differences remain about what should be the appropriate triggers.  —  A bipartisan group of senators is within striking distance of a deal on a bill that would impose crippling sanctions on Russia for its hostilities against Ukraine.

Memo circulated among Trump allies advocated using NSA data in attempt to prove stolen election  —  The proposal to seize and analyze “NSA unprocessed raw signals data” raises legal and ethical concerns that set it apart from other attempts that have come to light.

Biden greenlights $15 million infusion to Democratic campaign committees  —  White House looks to ease Democratic tensions amid ‘strained’ relationship with DNC  —  With his party facing stiff political headwinds, President Joe Biden has authorized a transfer of $15 million …

Pence aides decline to talk about direct conversations with Trump even as they answer other questions  —  (CNN)Top aides to Vice President Mike Pence did not discuss direct conversations with former President Donald Trump over several hours of questioning in recent interviews …

Whoopi Goldberg's American Idea of Race  —  It made sense, to the New York Daily News sports editor, that these guys dominated basketball.  After all, “the game places a premium on an alert, scheming mind and flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smartalecness,” not to mention their “God-given better balance and speed.”

A Jewish Teacher Criticized Israel.  She Was Fired.  —  Jessie Sander had just started a job at a synagogue in Scarsdale.  But then a blog post she had written was found.  —  Last summer, Jessie Sander had been on the job at a Jewish school in Westchester County for less than a month …

When the Pope Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie, That's Ahmari  —  From neoconservatism to integralist cosplay to active worship of China and Russia, the ‘post-liberal’ right has had a giddy five years  —  I first met Sohrab Ahmari, one of the most influential and controversial writers …

Florida Gov. DeSantis won't condemn Nazi rally in Orlando  —  DeSantis claimed those asking him to condemn the Nazis tried to “use this as some type of political issue.”  —  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has refused to condemn a Nazi rally that took place in Orlando over the weekend …

Why Voter Suppression Probably Won't Work  —  Voting procedures, turnout, and vote margins in the 2020 election  —  KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE  — In the aftermath of the high-turnout 2020 election, many Republican-controlled state governments have passed legislation that Democrats believe will harm their party's voter turnout.

The IRS is working with a startup called ID.me that stores the ‘inferred citizenship’ of some users.  That creates a huge new pool of personal data for police and other authorities to tap into.  — The IRS could soon require anyone logging into IRS.gov to use ID.me to verify their identity.