Putin thinks West will blink first in war of attrition, Russian elites say  —  The Kremlin is seeking to ramp up economic pressure to erode foreign support for Ukraine  —  Russian President Vladimir Putin is digging in for a long war of attrition over Ukraine and will be relentless in trying …

A man shot, killed 2 church members, then himself, outside of Ames' Cornerstone Church, sheriff says  —  A man shot and killed two female victims, then killed himself, in a parking lot outside Ames' Cornerstone Church Thursday night, according to police and officials at the church.

Opinion A Democratic ‘Contract With America’ for 2022  —  Ahead of November's midterm elections, Democrats should offer a straightforward, comprehensive agenda and commit to passing it if they keep control of Congress (or, in the case of the Senate, gain true control).

The Uvalde Police Scandal  —  Students inside were calling 911 and begging for help.  The officers stayed outside for almost an hour during the mass shooting.  —  1x  —  The great sin in what happened in Texas is that an 18-year-old with murder in his heart walked into a public school and shot to death 19 kids and two teachers.

Pariah pilgrimage: Biden to beg Saudis for more oil in person  —  Remember when Joe Biden ripped Donald Trump for doing nothing about the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and promised to treat Saudi Arabia as a “pariah state”?  The Washington Post certainly does:  —  Video

How Trump's Team Conned Susan Collins Into Dooming Roe v. Wade  —  Trump officials privately mocked the Maine Republican in the run-up to Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, predicting it'd be easy to get the pro-choice senator to vote for a seemingly anti-choice nominee

Scoop: Trumpworld plots Jan. 6 counterprogramming blitz  —  Former President Trump and his allies, in conjunction with top House GOP leadership and conservative groups, have begun pulling documents and coordinating a behind-the-scenes effort to counterprogram the Jan. 6 committee's televised hearings this month, Axios has learned.

Voters Say They Want Gun Control.  Their Votes Say Something Different.  —  Broad public support on the issue may not be as broad as polling shows or as Democrats hope.  —  It's one of the most puzzling questions for Democrats in American politics: Why is the political system so unresponsive to gun violence?

Gender identity lessons, banned in some schools, are rising in others  —  Students are told that dolls aren't just for girls, and that there are no ‘boy colors’ or ‘girl colors’  —  Some lessons are direct: “Who can describe what transgender means?”  In other classes, the discussion is more subtle …

Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb.  Why Can't They Say So?  —  Is Kevin McCarthy a great big dummy?  —  That's not a rhetorical question.  Read between the lines of some of the coverage during McCarthy's 15 years in Congress and you start to suspect that many folks who pay close attention …

Why We Need Middle-Aged Leaders to Replace Baby Boomers  — Give this article- - - Read in app  —  America's top political leaders are remarkably old.  Our president will turn 80 this year.  His predecessor, who is contemplating running again, is about to turn 76.  The speaker of the House is 82.

For decades, Republican consultants spent big to promote leftist candidates, now they've started creating fake ones  —  Instead of trying to build a majority, the American right has decided to divide and conquer … After losing the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump launched …

DeSantis moves to ban transition care for transgender youths, Medicaid recipients  —  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration Thursday asked the state board regulating doctors to essentially ban transition-related care for transgender minors, according to a letter obtained by NBC News.

‘There Are a Lot of People Very Close to the President Who Privately Understand That This Is a Complete Disaster’  —  So says the Washington Post's James Hohmann, in a conversation with The Bulwark's Charlie Sykes about the Biden administration's inexplicable desire to force taxpayers to pay off rich people's student loans.

Why Sheryl Sandberg Quit Facebook's Meta  —  One of the world's most powerful executives became increasingly burned out and disconnected from the mega-business she was instrumental in building.  That dovetailed with a company investigation into her activities.

Report: China-linked Twitter harassment targets female Asian journalists outside China … - In the past few years, and with growing assertiveness since 2019, the Chinese government has taken to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and other western social media platforms that are banned in China …

NY prosecutors are moving closer to charging Steve Bannon in border wall effort Trump pardoned him for  —  (CNN)Several close allies of Steve Bannon have been subpoenaed to testify before a New York state grand jury investigating his fundraising for a private border wall effort, people familiar with the investigation tell CNN.

Elon Musk now tells execs Tesla needs to ‘pause all hiring worldwide’ and cut staff by 10% because he has a ‘super bad feeling’ about the economy in latest internal email to execs  — Elon Musk told top managers he had a ‘super bad feeling’ about the economy

Barry Sussman, Washington Post editor who oversaw Watergate reporting, dies at 87  —  Barry Sussman, the Washington Post editor who directly oversaw the Watergate investigation by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, providing invaluable — if at times unheralded …

U.S. Employers Added 390,000 Jobs in May  —  Persistent shortage of workers, interest-rate increases and inflation will likely cool labor market in coming months, economists say  —  The U.S. economy added 390,000 jobs in May, extending a yearlong streak of strong gains, the Labor Department said Friday.

NYT: Dems sounding kinda Republican on crime these days  —  Old and busted: Defund the police!  New hotness: Law and order!  Two years after embracing the radical demands of progressives to curtail policing and paint law enforcement as a societal ill, Democrats suffer from a fully realized case …