U.S. economy shrinks 1.4 percent in first three months of the year, raising fears of recession  —  The pullback is a stark reversal from massive growth in 2021.  —  The U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank at a 1.4 percent annualized rate in the first three months of 2022 after more than a year of rapid growth …

Trump allies breach U.S. voting systems in search of 2020 fraud ‘evidence’  —  Chasing proof of vote-rigging conspiracy theories, Republican officials and activists in eight U.S. locales have plotted to gain illegal access to balloting systems, undermining the security of elections they claim to protect.

'You Can't Pin Him Down'  —  Kara Swisher knows Elon Musk and says judging him by tweets alone is a mistake.  —  Elon Musk, the richest human on earth, purchased Twitter for $44 billion this week, promising to refine the product while loosening its guidelines in the name of “free speech.”

It's Trump vs. Cruz in Ohio and Pa. Senate races  —  As Republican primary voters get closer to the polls, it's beginning to feel like mid-2016 again: Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are on opposing sides.  —  The former president's late backing of J.D. Vance in Ohio and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania …

Biden seeks new powers to use oligarchs' assets for Ukraine  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is asking Congress on Thursday for new powers to seize and repurpose the assets of Russian oligarchs as part of a new funding request to aid Ukraine in its defense against Russia's invasion.

Scoop: Former Manhattan prosecutor blasts Trump and Barr in new book  —  Geoffrey Berman, who was fired by President Trump as the top Manhattan federal prosecutor, will be out Sept. 13 with a memoir, “Holding the Line,” that charges Trump with trying to undermine the office's integrity.

Republican Group Taunts ‘Lying’ Kevin McCarthy With Billboards In His Own District  —  The Republican Accountability Project calls out the House minority leader amid new Jan. 6 revelations.  —  A conservative group erected six billboards in House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) home district after he was caught in a lie.

Climate Change Will Accelerate Viral Spillovers, Study Finds  —  In a warming world, bats in Southeast Asia will be especially prone to spreading viruses to other mammals, researchers found.  —  Over the next 50 years, climate change will drive thousands of viruses to jump from one species …

‘Enormous impact’: US intelligence prevented the fall of Kyiv  —  Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size  —  Washington: America helped foil Moscow's efforts to take Kyiv and repelled its advances elsewhere by sharing such detailed intelligence that Ukraine knew exactly …

Inside Zelensky's World  —  The nights are the hardest, when he lies there on his cot, the whine of the air-raid sirens in his ears and his phone still buzzing beside him.  Its screen makes his face look like a ghost in the dark, his eyes scanning messages he didn't have a chance to read during the day.

Dr. Birx is Back With the Worst Timed Memoir in History  —  “I had to make sure Africa was prepared.”  —  Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2022 (Advance Estimate)  —  Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the first quarter of 2022 (table 1), according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 6.9 percent.

Biden Administration to Advance Ban on Menthol Cigarettes  —  FDA expected to publish proposed rules on Thursday, though ban wouldn't take effect until at least 2024; ‘Day of reckoning’  —  The Biden administration on Thursday is expected to take a significant step toward a national ban …

Herschel Walker spent years promoting health products with dubious claims  —  In SEC filing, Walker's company said that one product's health benefit was “not supported by medical evidence generally accepted by the medical community.”  —  Senate candidate Herschel Walker has spent years promoting …

Two Democratic progressives plot new ways to fight back against Republican gains  —  Republicans are threatening to take over the House of Representatives in this year's midterm elections.  More than 30 House Democrats are heading for the exits.  And progressives have seen several major legislative proposals stall out.

It's Time to Open the Black Box of Social Media  —  Social media companies need to give their data to independent researchers to better understand how to keep users safe  —  Social media platforms are where billions of people around the world go to connect with others, get information and make sense of the world.

Biden welcomes Ukrainian refugees, neglects Afghans, critics say  —  Many human rights advocates hail the administration's response to the exodus triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while others feel deeply frustrated that those left behind in Afghanistan have not received equal attention

How Wisconsin's redistricting guarantees a lopsided Republican legislature in a 50/50 state  —  Craig GilbertSpecial to the Journal Sentinel  —  One thing I've learned from 35 years of Wisconsin politics is that predicting the outcome of elections in a 50/50 state can be a fool's exercise.

Opinion Amend the Constitution to bar senators from the presidency  —  To conserve the reverence it needs and deserves, the Constitution should be amended rarely and reluctantly.  There is, however, an amendment that would instantly improve the legislative and executive branches.

Ron DeSantis is Viktor Orbán's true American disciple  —  The Florida governor isn't doing “competent Trumpism.”  He's inventing American Orbánism.  —  In June of last year, Hungary's far-right government passed a law cracking down on LGBTQ rights, including …

McCarthy-aligned super PAC plans $125M ad buy to win the House  —  House Republicans' main super PAC is booking $125 million in TV ad reservations in roughly 50 media markets across the country — a massive down payment on the party's bid to wrest back the majority this fall.

Opinion CBS News commentator Mick Mulvaney has a new credibility problem  —  Now that CBS News is paying former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to provide on-air commentary, here's a question its anchors could pose to him: Do you believe the things you write?

Will the America we love survive the 2022 election?  Only if Democrats play hardball.  —  The GOP is not a normal party anymore.  A state senator, a best-selling author and Elizabeth Warren show Democrats how to win.  —  It's astonishing to watch Republicans throwing public education …

With no evidence, Rebecca Kleefisch, Wisconsin candidate for governor, says 2020 election was ‘rigged’  —  MADISON - Republican candidate for governor Rebecca Kleefisch is escalating her criticism of how the last presidential election was carried out in Wisconsin, calling it a “rigged” …

How deep does the rot in the Russian army go?  —  The fiasco in Ukraine could be a reflection of either a bad strategy or a poor fighting force  —  THE JOB of organising NATO's biggest military exercise since the cold war kept Admiral James Foggo, then the commander of American naval forces …

Some boring takes on the French election  —  Once again, taking popular positions on high-profile issues matters  —  Using the results of a foreign election to argue that all your domestic political hangups are correct is a huge hack move.  —  And yet, I really do think the most recent …

Judge Says Real Estate Giant Broke Rules for Trump  —  Judge Arthur Engoron has already determined that one of the largest real estate firms in the world broke its own rules to help the Trump Organization.  —  A New York judge has determined that Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world's …