Russian National Charged with Conspiring to Have U.S. Citizens Act as Illegal Agents of the Russian Government  —  An indictment was unsealed today in Tampa, Florida, charging a Russian national, working on behalf of the Russian government and in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service …

Jan. 6 texts missing for Trump Homeland Security's Wolf and Cuccinelli  —  DHS watchdog was alerted in February to unavailable records of top officials, but did nothing to alert or investigate  —  Text messages for former President Donald Trump's acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf …

Pelosi to leave for Asia amid Chinese threats over Taiwan stop  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to leave this weekend on a trip that includes Singapore, Japan and South Korea — and possibly Taiwan — even as a Chinese state media commentator suggested Friday that Beijing could shoot down any U.S. military plane she takes to Taipei.

Wait, Is Biden a Better President Than People Thought?  —  Many progressives have spent the Biden years in a mood of rising despair and even rage about the prospects for achieving the kind of fundamental change they believe the country and world urgently need.  They wish Joe Manchin was a different kind of senator.

CNN Exclusive: Russian officials requested adding convicted murderer to Griner/Whelan prisoner swap  —  (CNN)Russian government officials requested that a former colonel from the country's domestic spy agency who was convicted of murder in Germany last year be added to the US' proposed swap …

Pro-Trump influencer upset after documents detailing ‘substantial’ cooperation with FBI are released  —  WASHINGTON — A pro-Trump social media influencer who was convicted of disorderly and disruptive conduct on Capitol grounds for his actions on Jan. 6 is upset over the release of court filings …

‘Alarm bell’: Oz's struggles have GOP pitching alternate path to Senate takeover  —  PHILADELPHIA — The GOP establishment is feeling down on Dr. Oz.  —  The Senate Republicans' campaign arm is privately sounding the alarm about physician Mehmet Oz's bid for the Senate in the critical battleground …

Biden nominates abortion rights lawyer in U.S. Supreme Court case to federal judgeship  —  President Joe Biden on Friday nominated a lawyer who represented the Mississippi clinic at the heart of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to become a federal appeals court judge.

Inflation Reduction Act: Preliminary Estimates of Budgetary and Macroeconomic Effects … Key Points  — PWBM estimates that the Inflation Reduction Act, as written, would reduce cumulative deficits by $248 billion over the budget window.  — The Act would very slightly increase inflation until 2024 …

🚨 Instagram walks back its changes  —  Say goodbye to the full-screen feed, and at least some of those recommendations — for now.  Adam Mosseri explains why  —  Instagram will walk back some recent changes to the product following a week of mounting criticism, the company said today.

Fear of Rampant Crime Is Derailing New York City's Recovery … Incidents of violent crime remain at historic lows in New York City.  But people's views on guns and crime are often more influenced by what they see and hear, rather than by hard numbers.  While homicide is the most high-profile type …

First on CNN: Jared Kushner details West Wing ‘war’ with ‘toxic’ Steve Bannon in new book  —  (CNN)Jared Kushner details his clashes with Steve Bannon in his new book, describing a “toxic” West Wing presence who accused him of “undermining the President's agenda” and threatened to break him “in half” if Kushner turned on him.

Improvement or Illusion?  —  Over the last couple of weeks, there's been a shift in opinion among many political professionals about Democrats' chances in the midterm campaign.  They point in particular to improvement for Democrats in the generic ballot poll question (which party …

Phillips: Democrats need ‘new generation’ of leadership, not Biden in 2024  —  In an interview on the Chad Hartman radio show on WCCO-AM, Phillips, who represents Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District, said he wants to see “a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats who step up.”

Horrifying footage appears to show Russian captors castrating a Ukrainian prisoner of war  —  A horrific video posted online on Thursday appears to show a Ukrainian prisoner of war being castrated by his Russian captors.  —  While Yahoo News cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video …

“I can't believe I even survived that job.”  —  Staffers fleeing Katie Hobbs' campaign question her ability to lead Arizona.  —  In the past five months, two-thirds of Democrat Katie Hobbs' gubernatorial campaign staff have left, and several describe the campaign as an emotionally abusive atmosphere …

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stayed at fundraiser for hours after Uvalde shooting, records show  —  Finance, flight-tracking documents show the governor stayed in Huntsville longer than he implied.  —  AUSTIN — After the Uvalde school shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott spent nearly three hours in Huntsville …

Sen. Jim Inhofe has a strained relationship with the man favored to succeed him  —  The retiring senator says he and Markwayne Mullin ‘have problems.’  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retiring U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe's relationship with U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin hit a low point after Mullin's unauthorized attempt to visit Afghanistan last year.

So You Want To Start a Third Party?  —  Then tell me how you are going to attract real-world Trump voters.  —  Starting a new third party is all the rage these days, especially out here in Never Trumpistan.  —  The Yang Gang is teaming up with some future former Republicans for the Forward Party.

Inside one far-right sheriff's crusade to prove Trump's bogus voter-fraud claims  —  In rural Michigan, county Sheriff Dar Leaf has teamed with a Trump-camp lawyer to chase the former president's outlandish rigged-election theories.  A member of a radical group of “constitutional sheriffs,” he's now under investigation himself.

US court finds Libya's Khalifa Haftar liable for war crimes  —  Federal judge issues default judgement against Libyan commander and paves the way for plaintiffs to seek monetary compensation  —  A federal US judge on Friday issued a default judgement against Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar …

Democrats Beat Republicans for Control of Congress in 4 Polls in Past Week  —  Four national polls from the past week have shown Democrats favored by more voters to control Congress compared to Republicans, as many analysts and GOP leaders continue to express confidence that the liberal party …

Why Andrew Yang's New Third Party Is Bound to Fail  —  Let's not mince words.  The new Forward Party announced by the former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former Representative David Jolly is doomed to failure.  The odds that it will attract …

Facebook Approved Pro-Genocide Ads in Kenya After Claiming to Foster ‘Safe and Secure’ Elections  —  Kenya's national cohesion watchdog threatened to suspend Facebook from the country Friday if it doesn't mitigate hate speech ahead of the country's general elections next month.

'I don't agree with her on anything,' California Democrats say of Liz Cheney — as they donate to her race  —  Californians have contributed more to Republican Rep. Liz Cheney than donors from any other state, including her Wyoming home, as the outspoken Trump critic faces an increasingly perilous reelection bid.

Hey, Folks: We're Not in a Recession  —  Rules of thumb are often misleading.  Biden administration critics have seized on an axiom that two consecutive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product growth signal a recession.  That's not a rule followed by any economist I know.

Passenger rail return to Vermont city took vision, decades  —  Amtrak-Expansion-Vermont  —  BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — After a nearly 70-year absence, a passenger train running from Vermont's revitalized Burlington train station to New York City headed south Friday as part of a nationwide renewal of interest in rail travel.

On Economics And Democracy  —  High unemployment is extremely dangerous.  —  Earlier this week, I spoke at a gathering in Washington organized by Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Adam Jentleson on what they are calling “Inclusive Populism” — an economic agenda that defends the rights of all working people, whatever they may look like.

Trump plasters presidential seal across golf club during Saudi-backed LIV tournament despite complaints  —  Earlier this month, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to criminally investigate Mr Trump's Bedminster golf club over its use of the seal