US: 2 posed as agents, gave gifts to Secret Service officers  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged two men they say were posing as federal agents, giving free apartments and other gifts to U.S. Secret Service agents, including one who worked on the first lady's security detail.

Framing: In Honor of Eric Boehlert.  —  I just got the news this afternoon that Eric Boehlert, author of the popular Press Run site on Substack, had died in a bicycle accident in New Jersey, at age 56.  This is heartbreaking and terrible.  I send my condolences, sorrow, and support to his wife …

Judge acquits federal defense contractor on Jan. 6 charges  —  WASHINGTON — A federal defense contractor with a top-secret security clearance who admitted he entered the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack was found not guilty at trial on Wednesday.  —  Matthew Martin was acquitted …

U.S. Says It Secretly Removed Malware Worldwide, Pre-empting Russian Cyberattacks  —  The operation is the latest effort by the Biden administration to thwart actions by Russia by making them public before Moscow can strike.  — Give this article- - - Read in app

Paul Gosar to attend white nationalist social gathering on Hitler's birthday  —  Prescott Republican Congressman Paul Gosar is set to be a “special guest” with the white nationalist American Populist Union at an event that will be on a date popular among white nationalists and Neo-Nazis: Hitler's birthday.

After Gridiron Dinner, a covid outbreak among Washington A-list guests … It was supposed to be an evening of lighthearted political satire and bipartisan fellowship among an elite cadre of politicians, journalists and public officials, just as it has been for much of the past 137 years.

Dissatisfied With Their Party, Wealthy Republican Donors Form Secret Coalitions  —  Eager to offset a Democratic advantage among so-called dark money groups, wealthy pro-Trump conservatives like Peter Thiel are involved in efforts to wield greater influence outside the traditional party machinery.

Do Russians tell the truth when they say they support the war in Ukraine?  Evidence from a list experiment  —  Survey evidence indicates a majority of Russian citizens support their country's military action in Ukraine.  But does this give an accurate picture of public opinion?

Scoop: Bipartisan Senate group bids to block lifting Title 42  —  Five Democratic and six Republican senators will introduce a new bill on Thursday that would prevent the Biden administration from lifting Title 42 without a detailed plan in place to stop an expected surge of migrants at the border.

Collecting Bodies in Bucha  —  A team of Ukrainian volunteers say that, since the Russian retreat, they have picked up three hundred corpses.  —  Iryna Havryliuk was one of thousands of Ukrainians who fled Bucha in early March, after Russian forces occupied a northern suburb of Kyiv.

House votes to hold ex-Trump aides Navarro, Scavino in contempt of Congress  —  The House voted Wednesday to hold two former aides to President Donald Trump in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas related to the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Elon Musk delayed filing a form and made $156 million … Elon Musk was 11 days late in publicly declaring he had amassed a large stake in Twitter.  That omission may have earned him $156 million, according to a half-dozen legal and securities experts.  —  That's because of a 50-year-old law …

Republicans thought defining a ‘woman’ is easy.  Then they tried. … Before we get to the fact that I spent my lunch hour emailing with an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary to find out whether “tallywhacker” was an officially recognized euphemism for “penis,” a brief recap of how we got here:

U.S. widens sanctions against Russia as questions about effectiveness mount … The White House on Wednesday announced a new round of sanctions targeting two of Russia's biggest banks and the adult children of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the Biden administration seeks to amplify …

Steve Bannon Said Trump Reminded Him of Hitler.  He Meant It as a Compliment.  —  If you doubt we've grown too accustomed to aberrant behavior in the political class, consider this anecdote from the recently published Insurgency: How the Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything …

Officials Captured And Euthanized The Capitol Hill Fox, Then Found Her Kits  —  There's a tragic twist to the story of the Capitol Hill fox accused of biting and nipping multiple people earlier this week — the adult female was euthanized after her capture on Tuesday afternoon.

EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblower who handed Hunter's abandoned laptop to congressmen and DailyMail.com reveals he has 450 gigabytes of DELETED material including 80,000 images and videos - and has fled to Switzerland fearing retaliation from White House  — Whistleblower Jack Maxey gave DailyMail.com …

Florida's Scott exposes fissures with DeSantis  —  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott on Wednesday showed an unwillingness to embrace the harsh rhetoric of Gov. Ron DeSantis over Disney's rejection of Florida's “Parental Rights in Education” bill, dubbed the “Don't Say Gay” bill by opponents.

By denying a Ukrainian culture, Putin flattens his own … In his 1926 poem “Debt to Ukraine,” Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote: “It's hard to crush people into one.  Don't raise yourself so high.”  After all, the poet continued: “Do we know the Ukrainian night?  No, we do not know the Ukrainian night.”

California math wars get ugly: Accusations of racism and harassment ignite battle between Stanford and Cal profs  —  Two professors at rival Bay Area colleges — UC Berkeley and Stanford— landed in a social media feud this week, trading accusations of racism and harassment.

Patrisse Cullors blasts ‘despicable’ coverage of BLM's $6 million mansion  —  Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors railed against a “despicable” report from a liberal magazine that exposed her charity had purchased a $6 million Los Angeles mansion with donor cash.

At least five shooters involved in Sacramento massacre, gang ties likely, police say  —  Sacramento police said Wednesday that it appears at least five shooters fired guns during Sunday's massacre in downtown, which killed six people and injured 12.  —  Officials are still trying to determine …

Why the WHO took two years to say COVID is airborne … - Dyani Lewis  — Dyani Lewis  —  Dyani Lewis is freelance reporter in Melbourne, Australia.  —  You can also search for this author in  —  PubMed Google Scholar  —  As 2021 drew to a close, the highly contagious Omicron variant …

Bannon Loses Bid to Claim Lawyer Said He Could Ignore Jan. 6 Subpoena  —  A federal judge rejected political strategist Steve Bannon's plan to argue he was justified in refusing to comply with a subpoena from lawmakers investigating U.S. Capitol riot because he was acting on the advice of his lawyer.

Congressional Republicans Now Lead Generic Ballot Among Child Tax Credit Recipients  —  46% of voters who received the expired pandemic-era benefit say they'll back a Republican in the midterms  —  Voters who received expanded child tax credits payments in 2021 ended the year more likely …