Russian Security Service Detains Wall Street Journal Reporter  —  Russia's main security agency said it had detained a Wall Street Journal reporter for what it described as espionage.  —  The Federal Security Service said Thursday it had detained Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg.

Disney quietly took power from DeSantis' new board before state takeover  —  The battle between Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may not be over yet.  —  The new board handpicked by the Republican governor to oversee Disney's special taxing district said Wednesday it is considering legal action …

DeSantis Burnishes Tough-on-Crime Image to Run in '24 and Take On Trump  —  The Florida governor, preparing for an all-but-declared campaign, is said to see an opening to take on the former president from the right.  —  Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has spent months shoring up a tough …

Right-wing pundits, with Musk's encouragement, respond to mass shooting with anti-trans propaganda  —  On Monday, Audrey Hale drove to Covenant School, a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, retrieved three guns from the vehicle — two AR-style semi-automatic weapons and one pistol …

Biden's Inflation Reduction Act Betrayal  —  Instead of implementing the law as intended, his administration subverts it for ideological ends.  —  WSJ Opinion: Joe Manchin for President?  —  America is fast approaching another needless emergency—the raising of the national debt ceiling.

Two Army helicopters crash in Kentucky; as many as 9 feared dead  —  The Army says two of its helicopters crashed Wednesday night in Trigg County, Kentucky.  CBS News correspondent David Martin says it's feared that as many as nine people were killed.  —  Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear tweeted that …

‘This is like a movie’: Ukraine's secret plan to convince 3 Russian pilots to defect with their planes  —  At first, the Russian pilots all thought it was a scam.  But they agreed to go along with it anyway, especially after the initial payments came through.

GOP downplays importance of budget with debt ceiling looming  —  House Republicans are deemphasizing the importance of a GOP budget in the context of debt-ceiling talks, signaling their blueprint might not even be finalized until after the conference figures out its moves on raising the federal government's borrowing limit.

Trump's Huge Jan. 6 Mistake  —  Valorizing the Capitol riot is bad for the country and his own political future.  —  The philosopher Eric Hoffer famously wrote, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

Secret Pence ruling breaks new ground for vice presidency  —  For the first time in history, a federal judge ruled that vice presidents can benefit from a type of immunity typically provided to lawmakers.  —  A federal judge's secret order on Tuesday requiring Mike Pence to testify about aspects …

Former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg calls the network a ‘big corporate machine that destroys people’  —  Grossberg told NBC News she believes she was set up to be a scapegoat in the defamation suit against Fox News over baseless election fraud claims.  —  Abby Grossberg got off …

Allen Weisselberg just fired his Trump-funded lawyers — is he about to flip?  —  Sources are telling WNBC that Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Organization, has fired his Trump Org lawyers.  —  Weisselberg is not the first one to do something like this.

Train carrying ethanol derails and catches on fire sparking evacuation for residents in Minnesota city  —  As of early Thursday the crash site in Raymond, Minnesota, remained active and the fire was being contained, officials said.  —  A train carrying ethanol derailed and several cars erupted in flames …

Arizona Democrats to sue No Labels to block third-party challenge  —  The moderate group has been preparing a possible national presidential ticket for the 2024 elections  —  The Arizona Democratic Party will file a lawsuit Thursday against the state's top election administrator and No Labels …

Wee the people: Republican Boebert presses DC witness on public urination  —  Congresswoman's fixation on whether criminal code would have decriminalized public urination made biggest splash at hearing  —  In bizarre scenes in a US House hearing, the far-right Republican Lauren Boebert asked …

Trump Asks Advisers for ‘Battle Plans’ to ‘Attack Mexico’ if Reelected  —  Trump and his MAGAfied Republican Party are pushing plans for military action against drug cartels in Mexico — with or without the Mexican government's consent  —  DONALD TRUMP IS asking for a plan to wage war in Mexico …

'That C*nt.  I Hope She's Punished': New Texts Show Tucker Carlson Fumed About Trump Team's Stolen Election Claims  —  A trove of new messages from inside Fox News in the aftermath of the 2020 election were made public Wednesday as part of Dominion Voting System's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.

If Twitter finally dies, where do we find the smart people?  —  For a decade, Twitter was the premier watering hole for the chattering classes.  But where does everybody go if it dries up?  —  Sometimes malls are fun.  Sometimes, they die.  These days, our longtime social media hangout …

Senate Democrats led by Elizabeth Warren press federal bank regulators to implement stronger capital requirements  — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and two other Democratic senators are pressing bank regulators for tougher capital standards after the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapses.

Texas Observer will continue publishing after staff crowdfunds nearly $300,000  —  The crusading liberal magazine had planned to lay off its staff after its nonprofit board voted to shut down.  But it reversed course on Wednesday.  —  Days after voting to cease publication and lay off its journalists …

Ukrainians Directing Soldiers From a Hidden Hub See Bakhmut Going Their Way  —  Ukrainian commanders say they have exhausted Russia's relentless assaults on the eastern city, though soldiers say the cost in lives has been steep.  —  Hidden in the bowels of an unmarked building …

Ivanka Trump Is ‘No Longer’ Talking Dad Out of Hard Situations, Source Says: 'She Can't Help Him Now'  —  “Even though Ivanka loves her dad” — and reportedly has no strain in their relationship — “she knows how impossible he can be,” a social source tells PEOPLE

DeSantis' pitch to New York donors: I'm not a chaos agent  —  The Florida gov has hit up the city's finance types as he gets ready for a presidential launch.  —  New York's political status as a deep blue state rarely deters Republican hopefuls from casting about for wealthy backers — and Ron DeSantis is no exception.