Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School.  Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.  —  Crow paid for private school for a relative Thomas said he was raising “as a son.”  “This is way outside the norm,” said a former White House ethics lawyer.  —  In 2008, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas decided …

Russia says U.S. was behind Kremlin drone attack, drawing quick denial  —  Russia accused the United States on Thursday of being behind what it says was a drone attack on Moscow's Kremlin citadel intended to kill President Vladimir Putin.  —  A day after blaming Ukraine for what it called …

Emails Reveal ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Herschel Walker Money Scandal  —  Emails show Herschel Walker solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars for his own business from a billionaire donor, with the donor believing he was giving to Walker's campaign. … Pay Dirt is a weekly foray into the pigpen of political funding.

North Carolina House approves measure banning abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy  —  The North Carolina state House passed a bill on Wednesday that would ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, sending it to the state Senate for approval.  —  The House vote came just a day after Republicans …

Judge Tosses Trump's Lawsuit Against NY Times, Orders Him to Pay All Legal Fees  —  Trump sued the paper, along with his niece Mary, alleging an “insidious plot” to grab his tax records and publish them in a Pulitzer-winning report. … A New York judge has tossed out Donald Trump's lawsuit …

Donald Trump's Rape Trial Goes From One Disaster to Another  —  It goes from bad to worse for Donald Trump, which on Wednesday saw the re-emergence of the infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ tape. … May 3 was the latest very bad day for Donald Trump at his trial for allegedly raping E. Jean Carroll.

Ex-FBI agent feds say urged Jan. 6 rioters to kill police worked terrorism task force  —  Jared Wise was part of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and served as supervisory special agent in charge of the Homegrown Violent Extremism unit.  —  NEW YORK — An ex-FBI official who allegedly urged rioters to …

Exclusive: Special counsel probing Trump Organization's handling of Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage  —  Prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith have been asking questions in recent weeks about the handling of surveillance footage from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort …

Goodbye Twitter: Techdirt Will Soon End Our Automated Posting  —  Over the last few months we'd been wondering if it was worth pulling Techdirt posting from Twitter altogether, but had been too busy with other stuff to make a decision, and now it looks like Twitter has made the decision for us.

May 3, 2023  —  “No one should assume that the Fed can really protect the economy and the financial system and our reputation globally from the damage that [a U.S. default] might inflict,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said today.  “We shouldn't even be talking about a world in which the U.S. doesn't pay its bills.

Unhappy meals  —  This week, a federal investigation found that three Kentucky-based McDonald's franchises illegally employed at least 305 children, including some as young as 10 years old.  The three franchises — Bauer Food LLC, Archways Richwood LLC, and Bell Restaurant Group I LLC …

7 people found dead in Oklahoma were shot in the head in apparent murder-suicide, authorities say  —  Jesse McFadden, 39, is believed to have gunned down five teenagers and his wife during a sleepover at his family's house.  —  A convicted rapist on trial for child pornography charges …

About Half in U.S. Worry About Their Money's Safety in Banks  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amid turbulence in the U.S. banking system, nearly half of Americans are anxious about the safety of the money they have in accounts at banks or other financial institutions.

Today in America  —  I have been planning on writing about gun laws all week.  There's an idea I've been working on for a while, a legal argument taken to sort of silly extremes to illustrate a point about the ridiculous construction of the Second Amendment that is currently the law in this country.

A debt ceiling crisis could cripple Corporate America, but so far business isn't in the fight  —  K-Street and the titans of Washington lobbying no longer enjoy the same influence in Republican circles.  —  WASHINGTON — For decades, American business leaders have been reliable standbys …

How Trump's Legal Jeopardy Will Test American Democracy  —  Donald Trump's 2024 campaign for the White House is about to collide with an 1892 Supreme Court decision and a federal criminal trial rule.  —  Donald Trump's 2024 campaign for the White House is about to collide …

Dem Senator: Scalia accepted over 70 undisclosed gifts similar to Clarence Thomas  —  U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has revealed the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia also accepted and did not disclose dozens of trips paid for by special interest advocates …

Top Senate GOP recruit privately casts doubt on power of Trump endorsement  —  Frank LaRose, Ohio's Secretary of State, offered some candid assessments about the value of the Trump backing during closed door remarks.  —  Former President Donald Trump's endorsement is widely viewed among Republican candidates …

Total Wine magnate makes his bid for open Maryland Senate seat official  —  Rep. David Trone has been staffing up for months in anticipation of Sen. Ben Cardin's retirement.  —  Rep. David Trone officially launched his bid on Thursday for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin in Maryland.