The Pastrami Principle  —  A couple of months ago, Jeb Bush (remember him?) posted a photo of his monogrammed handgun to Twitter, with the caption “America.”  Bill de Blasio, New York's mayor, responded with a picture of an immense pastrami sandwich, also captioned “America.”  Advantage de Blasio, if you ask me.

New York Republicans Ignore Ted Cruz at GOP Gala  —  NEW YORK — A stunningly distracted crowd of hundreds of Republicans almost entirely ignored Ted Cruz's speech at the New York City GOP gala on Thursday night, instead chattering at their dinner tables, standing and taking selfies.

Rocker delivers message during Detroit tour stop, days after canceling North Carolina show in protest  —  Days after canceling a North Carolina concert in political protest, Bruce Springsteen sent a shot across the bow to Michigan legislators during his Thursday show at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Lewandowski: I Tried to Call Fields; She Just Wanted to Inject Herself Into Story (UPDATED)  —  Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski appeared on New Day to address the final decision by Florida prosecutors to drop the charges being brought against him by a former Breitbart reporter.

Facebook Employees Asked Mark Zuckerberg If They Should Try to Stop a Donald Trump Presidency  —  This week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared to publicly denounce the political positions of Donald Trump's presidential campaign during the keynote speech of the company's annual F8 developer conference.

This is the worst argument about the national debt you'll ever find  —  The United States government has $13 trillion in debt, and I feel fine.  —  You should too.  That's because, despite what Jim Grant tells us on the cover of Time magazine, this doesn't mean that every man, woman, and child has to pay $42,998.12 themselves.

Thinking Outside the Cable Box: How More Competition Gets You a Better Deal  —  Today, building on efforts over the last seven years, the President is launching a new initiative to stoke competition across our economy, so that no corporation can unfairly squeeze their competitors, their workers, or their customers at everyone's expense.

Republican leaders consider rewriting convention rules  —  The Republican National Committee is expected to debate a proposal next week that would dramatically shift the balance of power at this summer's convention — and impose a new rulebook for selecting the party's nominee.

Why I Haven't Felt The Bern  —  Today's column offers an opportunity to say, for the record, why I haven't been the Bernie booster a lot of people apparently expected me to be.  For the business about discounting Clinton support as coming from “conservative states” in the “Deep South” …

Charles Manson follower, killer Leslie Van Houten, approved for parole  —  BY YANAN WANG AND JUSTIN WM.  —  The vicious killers that crawled out of Spahn Ranch in the summer of 1969 at Charles Manson's behest to kill innocent people didn't just terrify California, but the entire country.

7.0 quake strikes Japan after earlier one kills 9  —  (CNN) A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck early Saturday in Japan's Kyushu island, the same region a 6.2 quake struck two days earlier.  —  The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the latest quake struck just west-southwest of Kumamoto-shi …

Billions of cicadas will descend upon the northeastern United States as another 17-year cycle concludes  —  The eighth biblical plague that tortured Egypt was a plague of locusts.  —  As described in Exodus 10:5, “And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth …

Jokes About Erdogan Aren't Funny in Germany  —  Chancellor Angela Merkel gave German authorities the go-ahead to pursue action—if they choose to do so—against the satirist on charges of personal defamation and insulting a foreign head of state—both illegal under German law.

Sanders tax return shows about $200,000 in income, modest charitable giving in 2014 … NEW YORK — Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders started to make good Friday night on a pledge to release his full tax returns from recent years, sharing a 2014 federal filing that showed income …

Here's What Happened When A Group Of Scientists Went To Confront Their Congressional Tormentors  —  It turns out their “wasteful” research serves a purpose.  —  The worlds of science and politics came together twice on Wednesday afternoon, and the collisions couldn't have been more diametrically at odds.

Failed North Korea missile launch prompts Chinese ‘saber-rattling’ jibe  —  North Korea attempted and failed to launch what experts believe was an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Friday in defiance of U.N. sanctions and in an embarrassing setback for leader Kim Jong Un, drawing criticism from major ally China.

GOP foreign policy elites don't know whether they'll serve if Trump is president  —  When the Republican foreign policy elite gets together these days, conversation quickly veers from challenges such as the Islamic State or North Korea to focus on two questions.

How Brazil, the darling of the developing world, came undone  —  BRASILIA — It was called the “Brazil model,” or simply “the Lula model,” back when this country's economy was roaring and its president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was a superstar of the developing world.

Abused?  You Can't Work at These Churches  —  Church job seekers are being asked if they were sexually abused as children based on the false belief that victims will become abusers.  The worst part—this discrimination is legal.  —  If you want to work for the Twin Cities Bible Church …

Sharon Stone on Trump's “Hubris” and Bernie: “How Much Acid Has This Guy Taken?”  —  EMAIL ME  —  “We have leaders and people who are trying to be leaders who are running campaigns based on fear, and that's a contagion,” said the actress.  “Holocausts have occurred when that fire catches loose.”