DeSantis cannonballs into America's deep blue states for war on ‘woke’ ahead of 2024  —  The Florida governor has used his trips to highlight his state's accomplishments — citing statistics that sometimes mask far more complicated debates  —  LOS ANGELES — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has found …

Democrats hit some snags on Biden judicial nominees after topping 100 new judges  —  Senate absences are causing issues.  Some worry that the “blue slip” custom will prevent the party from hitting its targets.  And a couple of Biden's judicial nominees are under fire.

Why Are We Still Arguing About Masks?  —  All this time later, their utility is in doubt.  —  In the past few weeks, the conventional wisdom about COVID seems to have been upended.  —  Early in the pandemic, several mainstream news outlets dismissed theories that COVID came from a Chinese lab.

Amazon Pauses Construction on Second Headquarters in Virginia as It Cuts Jobs  —  Amazon.com Inc. is pausing construction on its sprawling second headquarters near Washington, a decision that coincides with the company's deepest ever job cuts and a reassessment of office needs to account for remote work.

DeSantis appointee to new Disney oversight board suggested tap water could turn people gay  —  An appointee to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' new oversight board in control of Disney's special tax district called homosexuality “evil” last year and shared a baseless conspiracy theory that tap water could be making more people gay.

Walgreens Caves To Antiabortion Republicans — Including In States Where Abortion Remains Legal  —  Walgreens says they won't distribute abortion pills in states where Republican officials are opposed.  —  Abortion remains legal right now in states like Alaska, Iowa, Montana, and Kansas …

It's time to revoke Fox News' press credentials  —  The political media world has been rocked by the bombshell court filing by Dominion Voting Systems as part of their $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.  —  Top executives from Rupert Murdoch on down, and on-air personalities …

Leaked audio reveals US rail workers were told to skip inspections as Ohio crash prompts scrutiny to industry  —  Exclusive: employee says manager told her to stop marking cars for repair, as Ohio derailment brings hard look at industry's record of blocking safety rules

Democrats challenge credibility of GOP witnesses who embrace false Jan. 6 claims  —  House Republicans vowing to uncover a “weaponization” of the federal government against conservatives have so far called witnesses who have not presented any evidence of wrongdoing at the Justice Department …

Washington's Favorite Republican Is Making All the Right Moves  —  The Republican primary season hasn't even started, and already one contest appears to have a runaway winner: The Permanent-Washington Primary, where New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is absolutely crushing it.

Effort to change Utah's state flag narrowly passes Legislature after hours of debate  —  Gov. Spencer Cox now has three weeks to decide if he'll approve or veto the new state flag bill.  —  The bill to change Utah's state flag squeaked by on the House floor Thursday morning on a razor-thin 40-35 vote …

Trump lawyers scramble to exclude Access Hollywood clip from rape trial  —  In a legal filing on Friday, attorneys for Donald Trump asked to exclude a video clip of the former president boasting that he could sexually assault women at will because he was famous from evidence in the trial related …

Trump calls for contest to create futuristic ‘Freedom Cities’  —  Modern cities and flying cars might sound like the makings of an episode of the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons, where a fictionalized family flew around in Orbit City.  —  For former President Donald Trump, however …

He Believes Hitler Went to Heaven — and Wants to Take Over the Lutheran Church  —  A nearly 2 million-member synod is fighting an attempt to turn its pews into a bastion for young fascists  —  ON ASH WEDNESDAY, the First Lutheran Church in Knoxville called the cops on a parishioner who was attempting to attend services.

Republicans Swore Biden Was Lying About Social Security Cuts.  Now They're Questioning the Retirement Age.  —  Republicans were outraged when Joe Biden accused them of proposing Social Security cuts.  Now a bipartisan group is talking about raising the retirement age.

Trump's Prosecution Primary Has Already Begun.  It's Going to Be Wild.  —  Trump's legal threats are moving faster than the political calendar.  —  WASHINGTON, US  —  A strange and volatile early stage of the 2024 presidential race has already begun, where investigations in Atlanta …

Killer Navy SEAL Hires Trump Lawyer to Reduce His Jail Time  —  Trump's Jan. 6 lawyer—who also repped SEAL Edward Gallagher—is now trying to help Tony DeDolph get a reduced sentence for killing Green Beret Logan Melgar in Mali in 2017.  —  The Navy SEAL who admitted to killing a Green Beret …

Fewer Americans Want U.S. Taking Major Role in World Affairs  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sixty-five percent of Americans prefer the U.S. to take the leading (20%) or a major role (45%) in world affairs.  This is down from 69% in 2019 and 72% as recently as 2017.  The current figure is one percentage point below the prior low from 2011.

Both Worse  —  Understanding DeSantis and Trump  —  In the Monday New York Times, Damon Linker had a piece entitled “My Fellow Liberals Are Exaggerating the Dangers of Ron DeSantis.”  In it, Linker contends that people on the left are hyperventilating about Florida governor Ron DeSantis …

Donald Who?:  Fox, the Dominion Case, and the Perils of Pivoting from Trump  —  Ignoring the former President doesn't seem to have sunk him yet.  —  It was a slow news week in Washington, at least if you watched Fox News.  On Tuesday night, apropos of nothing in particular …

In The Room Where It (Doesn't) Happen  —  Paul Ryan's choice … — Hamilton and (more or less) Paul Ryan  —  [Note: I've been thinking about my conversation with Paul Ryan last week and, given all the reaction, wanted to revise and extend my remarks on what we learned.]

Missing Jan. 6th texts due to Signal, personal phone use … The reason the government is missing text messages for Trump's acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli from the period around the January 6th attack on the Capitol could be due …

The IRS braces for the unthinkable: A normal tax season  —  The tax agency has spent nearly $1 billion in new funding to improve service, and tax pros say the investment is already paying off  —  The Internal Revenue Service's massive — and controversial — funding boost has begun to reach …