A Strategy Emerges to Counter House Democrats: Dare Them to Impeach  —  WASHINGTON — As the White House and Congress escalate their constitutional showdown, President Trump and his team are essentially trying to call what they see as the Democrats' bluff.  The message: Put up or shut up.

Giuliani Plans Ukraine Trip to Push for Inquiries That Could Help Trump  —  WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev …

Burr holds firm despite GOP anger over Don Jr. subpoena  —  Richard Burr faces intense pressure from Republicans to drop his subpoena of President Donald Trump's eldest son and quickly wrap up the Senate Intelligence Committee's Russia probe.  —  But despite a day facing attacks …

Trump and Kim battled subordinates ahead of spike in tensions  —  President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shattered more than a year of relative tranquility Thursday with the U.S. seizure of a North Korean vessel and the isolated regime's launch of two short-range ballistic missiles.

Judge fast-tracks fight over congressional subpoena of Trump financial records  —  NYT reporter calls Trump business losses ‘unbelievable’  —  Washington (CNN)Congress and Donald Trump's fight over his financial records is now on the fast track.  —  Judge Amit Mehta plans next week to weigh …

Trump cheered Patriots to Super Bowl victory with founder of spa where Kraft was busted  —  The FBI has opened a public corruption investigation into Republican donor and South Florida massage-parlor entrepreneur Li “Cindy” Yang, focusing on whether she illegally funneled money from China …

US hikes tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing vows retaliation  —  BEIJING (AP) — President Donald Trump's latest tariff hike on Chinese goods took effect Friday and Beijing said it would retaliate, escalating a battle over China's technology ambitions and other trade tensions.

Alabama bill would criminalize false rape accusations  —  A bill making it a crime to falsely accuse someone of a sexual crime was first read in the Alabama House of Representatives last week.  —  The bill, introduced by Rep. Dickie Drake, R-Leeds, would make falsely reporting a sex crime …

FBI's Steele story falls apart: False intel and media contacts were flagged before FISA  —  The FBI's sworn story to a federal court about its asset, Christopher Steele, is fraying faster than a $5 souvenir t-shirt bought at a tourist trap.  —  Newly unearthed memos show a high-ranking government official …

Colorado students walk out as school shooting vigil turns political  —  A vigil held Wednesday evening to recognize the victims and heroes of the shooting earlier this week at a Colorado high school turned into a political protest after some students in attendance expressed frustration with the tone and focus of the speeches.

Three Production Companies Say They Won't Film in Georgia Over Abortion Law  —  David Simon's Blown Deadline Productions, Killer Films CEO Christine Vachon and Mark Duplass pledged to no longer shoot in the state as long as the law exists.  —  Georgia, no stranger to threats of boycotts due …

US B-52 bombers land in Qatar over unspecified Iran threat  —  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — B-52 bombers ordered by the White House to deploy to the Persian Gulf to counter unspecified threats from Iran have arrived at a major American air base in Qatar, the U.S. Air Force acknowledged Friday.

Let's Talk About How to End Sexual Violence  —  That's the most important conversation right now.  —  Ms. Hill is a professor at Brandeis University.  —  Last month, Joe Biden called me to talk about his conduct during Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1991.

It turns out Trump's business success was a media-made myth  —  President Trump has finally proved, beyond any doubt, that there is such a thing as #FakeNews.  —  In the 1980s and 1990s, the media conspired to perpetrate a vast fraud on the American people.

Americans' support for impeaching Trump rises: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of Americans who said President Donald Trump should be impeached rose 5 percentage points to 45 percent since mid-April, while more than half said multiple congressional probes of Trump interfered …

Mayor Pete blindsides Kamala Harris in California  —  LOS ANGELES — California Democrats, especially those with ties to the influential LGBTQ and Hollywood communities, are finding themselves torn between a home-state senator they love, Kamala Harris, and an out-of-state suitor who has suddenly captured their attention, Pete Buttigieg.

Beto's Long History of Failing Upward  —  AMES, Iowa—The presidential run of Beto O'Rourke is a profoundly personality-driven exercise, his charisma and Kennedy-esque demeanor the topic of one profile after another, so it's surprising to listen to his speeches on the stump in which he doesn't talk a whole lot about himself.

“We're Gonna Run the Country!  White Power!  F**k N*****s!":  Turning Point USA Leader Gives Alt-Right Hand Sign While Caught on Racist Rant  —  A video sent to It's Going Down and already going viral on various Facebook pages, shows the leader of the Las Vegas chapter of Turning Point USA …

Trump's Most Nakedly Corrupt Tweet Yet  —  The impact of the Trump kleptocracy is wide-ranging across American business and its allies in Washington.  —  It used to be that I was concerned that the media was paying too much attention to Donald Trump's tweets; now I'm concerned that they're not paying enough.

One out of every 11,600 people in San Francisco is a billionaire  —  Statistics like this throw into sharp relief the challenge for Silicon Valley and its leaders in 2019.  —  If you want to run into a celebrity, you go to Hollywood.  If you want to run into a billionaire, you should move to San Francisco.