With Feds Circling, Trump Asks Allies: Who's ‘Wearing a Wire’?  —  As the investigations heat up, the former president and his advisers are pointing fingers — and looking for “rats”  —  Donald Trump is worried he may have a rat — or multiple rats — in his midst.

FBI delivers subpoenas to several Pa. Republican lawmakers: sources say  —  1,070 … - Meadows' former aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the House Select Committee that Perry was among a small group of people who talked with Meadows about a potential appearance by Trump at the Capitol following …

An unusual deal gave Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin $8.5 million in stock.  He paid $0 in tax on it.  —  In January 2020, Glenn Youngkin, now the Republican governor of Virginia, got some welcome news.  A complex corporate transaction had gone through at the Carlyle Group …

Sen. Lindsey Graham a no-show at scheduled Fulton County court appearance  —  ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46/AP) - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham did not show up to his scheduled appearance on Wednesday at the Fulton County courthouse.  —  Graham was subpoenaed to testify to a special grand jury that's …

Historians privately warn Biden that America's democracy is teetering  —  When Biden met with historians last week at the White House, they compared the threat facing America to the pre-Civil War era and to pro-fascist movements before WWII  —  President Biden paused last week …

Gas Prices in the U.S. Fall Below $4 a Gallon  —  After peaking in mid-June, they have tracked a global decline in oil prices and are back where they were in March.  —  Gas prices in the United States fell below $4 a gallon on Thursday, retreating to their lowest level since March …

Rural Colorado school administrators investigated sexting between students.  Now they're charged in a child porn case.  —  BRUSH — The person who decided “Homegrown Happiness!” should be the tagline for this Eastern Plains town may have had someone like Bradley Bass in mind.

‘Everybody Is Armed’: As Shootings Soar, Philadelphia Is Awash in Guns  —  More than 1,400 people have been shot this year in Philadelphia, hundreds of them fatally — a higher toll than in much larger New York or Los Angeles.  —  PHILADELPHIA — The 300th killing of the year took the life of Lameer Boyd …

Why Wait?  Here's Liz Cheney's Concession Speech in Advance  —  Liz Cheney is facing an awkward challenge.  A few days from now, she will deliver the most consequential speech of her career to date.  The polls indicate it will almost certainly be a concession speech.

A mom's campaign to ban library books divided a Texas town — and her own family  —  Weston Brown had given up challenging his mother's anti-LGBTQ beliefs.  But that was before she started coming after library books. … GRANBURY, Texas — Weston Brown was scrolling through Twitter last month …

Wholesale inflation fell 0.5% in July, in another sign that price increases are slowing  — The producer price index, a gauge of final-demand wholesale prices, decreased 0.5% in July due to a slide in energy prices.  The year-over-year gain was 9.8%.  — The annual increase …

Yellen directs IRS not to use new funding to increase chances of audits of Americans making less than $400,000  —  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday directed the Internal Revenue Service not to use any of the new funding allocated in the Democrats' new health care and climate bill …

The Decisive Vote  —  Now that Joe Manchin has saved the Democratic agenda, how should liberals think about him?  —  Joe Manchin has spent much of the past year as the villain of liberal America, receiving the kind of criticism that's usually reserved for Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell or a conservative Supreme Court justice.

FBI Has Reestablished Trump as the Alpha Dog in the Republican Party  —  Who could be in a better position to capitalize on outrage over the FBI searching Trump's home than Trump himself?  —  As the late political philosopher Hans Gruber once said, “You ask for miracles — I give you the F-B-I.”

Partisanship Colors Views of COVID-19 Handling Across Advanced Economies  —  Most see their society as more divided than prior to the pandemic - and this view is especially common in the U.S.  —  Most see their society as more divided than prior to the pandemic - and this view is especially common in the U.S.

Blake Masters Caught Lying About Anti-Semitic Backer: Audio  —  New audio reveals he talked to the Gab CEO at length  —  It was a classic case of he-said, he said.  —  Blake Masters, Donald Trump's pick for Senate in Arizona, swore last week that he doesn't know Gab CEO Andrew Torba, calling him a “nobody” that “nobody cares about.”

Lincoln Project co-founder speculates if Jared Kushner was the mole who sold out Trump to the feds  —  Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson appeared on MSNBC Wednesday afternoon to talk about the group's new 60 second ad that they are running in Bedminster, New Jersey, where Donald Trump typically summers.

Hispanic Voters Are Normie Voters  —  Time for Woke Democrats to Wake Up  —  Democrats are having a great deal of trouble holding on to Hispanic voters.  In 2020, running against Donald Trump for a second time, in the midst of a COVID/economic crisis and after the George Floyd summer of …

How Not To Talk To The Public About Monkeypox  —  A case study in hiding the ball, public health official-style  —  Happy Wednesday!  You may have seen some FBI-related news this week — if you're interested in the Mar-a-Lago raid, including some inferences about the status of the investigations …

Big Pharma's Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card  —  The Inflation Reduction Act is being hailed for getting tough on drug companies.  In fact, they'll make out just fine by raising prices on everyone outside Medicare  —  A brief pause from my August break to comment on an issue largely ignored by the mainstream media.

The Snowballing US Rental Crisis Is Sparing Nowhere and No One  —  A Las Vegas bartender coping with a recent cancer diagnosis is fearing eviction.  A young professional in Tucson is skipping car payments to afford her higher rent.  A researcher in Miami signed the lease for her new apartment sight unseen.

A grim milestone: 10 years since Austin Tice's abduction in Syria  —  The freelance journalist's parents still push hard for the U.S. government to find a way to bring their son home  —  Debra and Marc Tice wanted some joy.  So they got a piñata.  She baked a special birthday cake.