Donald Trump Tops Ron DeSantis in Test of GOP Presidential Field, WSJ Poll Finds  —  No candidate beyond the two leaders draws substantial support in the still-developing primary race  —  WASHINGTON—Donald Trump has gained command of the GOP presidential-nomination race over Ron DeSantis …

BuzzFeed News Is Shutting Down, Company Laying Off 180 Staffers  —  BuzzFeed is shutting down BuzzFeed News because it is not able to turn a profit, according to a memo CEO Jonah Peretti sent to company staff Thursday.  The digital publisher is laying off 15% of its employees, or about 180 people …

McCarthy at risk of falling short on GOP votes for debt ceiling bill  —  House Republicans are feeling a debt ceiling hangover, with senior GOP sources worrying they're significantly short on votes now that members have read the 320-page bill. … - Much of the skepticism is coming …

Smartmatic wants more than Dominion's $787 million payout, plus a retraction from Fox for its 2020 election lies, lawyer says  —  A top lawyer for Smartmatic, the voting technology company whose defamation lawsuit against Fox News is still pending, said Thursday that he won't accept …

I.R.S. Official Is Said to Assert Political Meddling in Hunter Biden Inquiry  —  An agent overseeing the agency's portion of the investigation into the president's son is asking Congress for whistle-blower protection to discuss what he says is misconduct in the case.

Top Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn to be questioned for 2nd day by special counsel: Sources  —  Epshteyn met with prosecutors for multiple hours on Thursday, sources say.  —  After meeting with  —  special counsel Jack Smith's  —  office for multiple hours Thursday, top Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn …

Trump touts authoritarian vision for second term: ‘I am your justice’  —  The former president is proposing deploying the military domestically, purging the federal workforce and building futuristic cities from scratch  —  Mandatory stop-and-frisk.  Deploying the military to fight street crime, break up gangs and deport immigrants.

Larry Elder announces 2024 White House bid  —  Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder announced Thursday that he's launching a 2024 presidential campaign, joining a growing list of Republicans vying for the GOP nomination.  —  Elder will speak at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition this weekend.

The Internet of the 2010s Ended Today  —  BuzzFeed News was more than a website: It defined an era.  —  If you're curious to know what it was like to work at BuzzFeed News in the salad days of the mid-2010s, here is a representative anecdote: I was sitting at my desk one morning …

Public schools would have to display Ten Commandments under bill passed by Texas Senate  —  The Senate also passed a bill that would set prayer and Bible reading times during the school day.  —  Public schools in Texas would have to prominently display the Ten Commandments …

Kremlin tries to build antiwar coalition in Germany, documents show  —  Marrying Germany's far right and far left is a Kremlin goal, according to a trove of Russian documents reviewed by The Washington Post  —  BERLIN — When 13,000 demonstrators gathered at the Brandenburg Gate on Feb. 25 …

GOP targets clean energy laws despite boons back home  —  Earlier this year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene heralded the expansion of a South Korean solar panel production company in her district — a $2.5 billion cash infusion.  —  “QCells, the solar company ... I think they're fantastic,” she said.

Trump killed the ‘values voter’ wing of the GOP.  It isn't coming back in 2024.  —  On the eve of a Christian cattle call in Iowa, the two 2024 contenders who talk the most about their faith aren't gaining traction.  —  Mike Pence has spent nearly a half dozen of his Sundays in recent months speaking …

Once-a-week nightmare: US mass killings on a record pace  —  The U.S. is setting a record pace for mass killings in 2023, replaying the horror on a loop roughly once a week so far this year.  The carnage has taken 88 lives in 17 mass killings over 111 days.  Each time, the killers wielded firearms.

“Unprecedented” wave of fake threats at schools causes terror  —  “Swatting” calls — fake reports of shootings or bombs that draw an onslaught of SWAT teams and cause schools to lockdown — are rising nationwide. … - “Swatting” is the act of placing a fake emergency call to 911 …

LeBron James didn't pay for his Twitter checkmark, but Elon Musk gave it to him anyway … Twitter has started getting rid of legacy blue checks for those who don't pay up.  Well, unless you're LeBron James and a couple of other celebrities.  —  The Verge has confirmed that an employee …

Abortion ban states see steep drop in OB/GYN residency applicants  —  States that have enacted abortion bans saw a 10.5 percent drop in applicants for obstetrics and gynecology residencies in 2023 from the previous year, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Charges dropped against Alec Baldwin in fatal on-set ‘Rust’ shooting: Sources  —  Baldwin was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.  —  Charges against Alec Baldwin have been dropped in the  —  fatal on-set “Rust” shooting  —  , according to sources familiar with the matter.

Why so many top Republicans want to go to war in Mexico  —  An astonishingly bad idea that's gotten popular very quickly.  —  One of the hottest new ideas in Republican politics is, apparently, launching a war in Mexico.  —  Three recent articles — in Rolling Stone, Politico, and Semafor …

Ukraine defended Bakhmut despite U.S. warnings in leaked documents  —  BAKHMUT, Ukraine — Months after dire warnings from Washington that Ukraine would not be able to hold Bakhmut against an onslaught of Russian mercenaries, Ukrainian forces still cling to the city's western edge …

UK deputy prime minister quits after bullying investigation  —  U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab resigned Friday after an independent investigation into complaints that he bullied civil servants.  Raab's announcement on Friday came the day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak received findings …

Russia admits its own warplane accidentally bombed Russian city of Belgorod, near Ukraine border  —  Moscow — When a powerful blast shook a Russian city near the border of Ukraine residents thought it was a Ukrainian attack.  But the Russian military quickly acknowledged …

Poll: GOP voters say fighting “woke” ideology more important than stopping Social Security cuts  —  Most Republican primary voters say fighting “woke” ideology in schools and businesses is more important to them than protecting Medicare and Social Security from cuts, a new Wall Street Journal poll out today showed.

Let's Look at Senator Josh Hawley's Connections to the Abortion Pill Case  —  Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk donated to his campaign in 2018, but that donation has since been scrubbed from Open Secrets.  Hawley's wife represents the plaintiffs.  —  Alerts  —  The Supreme Court is set to weigh …

How to Make the Housing Market Worse  —  The federal government props up the housing market in too many ways to count.  The U.S. is unique among rich countries in having the national government insure mortgages, guarantee mortgage securities, and finance mortgages with government-sponsored enterprises.

Ex-CIA chief spills on how he got spies to write false Hunter Biden laptop letter to ‘help Biden’  —  Joe Biden's presidential campaign prompted former acting CIA director Mike Morell to “help Biden” by organizing 50 colleagues to sign a letter in October 2020 falsely claiming that damning emails …

‘Self-infatuated extremist’: Marjorie Taylor Greene hit with brutal op-ed after rushing to defend a ‘reckless brat’  —  Shortly after federal authorities announced the arrest of Jack Douglas Teixeira on allegations the 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member leaked sensitive …