Billionaire Les Wexner tells lawmakers that he was ‘conned’ by Jeffrey Epstein and did ‘nothing wrong’  —  The 88-year-old former Victoria's Secret CEO denied he was Epstein's “co-conspirator,” and said he “was duped by a world-class con man.”  —  Listen to this article with a free account

Billionaires Gone Wild  —  Understanding the oligarchs' power grab and the dire threat to American democracy  —  A few stories about centibillionaires — men whose net worth exceeds $100 billion — and their role in our society:  —  · In 2022 Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, purchased Twitter.

Angry Trump Humiliated as Effort to Prosecute Dems Backfires Again  —  Let's start with some good news: Donald Trump's efforts to jail his Democratic enemies have thus far mostly been marked by ham-fisted, buffoonish failure.  The targeting of people like Senator Adam Schiff …

Trump moves closer to a major war with Iran  —  The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize.  It could begin very soon. … - The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that's much broader in scope …

The FCC (probably) didn't censor Stephen Colbert  —  For the 12 of us who woke up Tuesday morning wondering what we had missed on Monday's late-night shows, CBS greeted us with a concerning development.  —  Overnight, Stephen Colbert had laid into his network, dedicating time at the top …

Trump's economic adviser says authors of tariff study should be “disciplined”  —  White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the authors of a New York Fed study that found that Americans pay for tariffs should be disciplined, in an interview with CNBC Wednesday morning.

The political effects of X's feed algorithm  — Germain Gauthier orcid.org/0009-0000-4262-7483 1 na1, - Roland Hodler orcid.org/0000-0001-8402-8243 2 na1, - Philine Widmer 3 na1 & - - Ekaterina Zhuravskaya orcid.org/0000-0002-3496-2086 3,4 na1 Show authors  —  Abstract

GOP Lawmaker Reportedly Had Affair With Aide Who Died By Self-Immolation  —  Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) accused his primary opponent of using the story to smear his aide's memory.  —  WASHINGTON — A Republican lawmaker's apparent affair with an aide who later died by suicide has roiled a close primary election in Texas.

STAT+: FDA reverses course, agrees to review Moderna's flu vaccine  —  WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration reversed course and told Moderna it would review its application for a new flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday.  —  The agency told Moderna earlier this month …

Manic Trump, 79, Unleashes Deranged Conspiracy Posting Rampage  —  SPIRALING  —  The president seems to be panicking about Republicans' chances in the midterms.  —  President Donald Trump has unleashed a bombardment of debunked election conspiracy theories as he pressures Senate Republicans …

Jeffries puts rare public pressure on fellow Democrats … - Jeffries is trying to persuade as many Democrat-controlled states as possible to redraw their legislative maps to counteract the GOP's mid-decade redistricting in Texas, Missouri and elsewhere.

N.I.H. Director Will Temporarily Run C.D.C. in Leadership Shake-Up  —  Dr. Jay Bhattacharya will serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until President Trump appoints a permanent director.  —  The director of the National Institutes of Health …

Amid Mass ICE Arrests, Trump Pardon Recipient Juan Orlando Hernández Given Special Treatment  —  After the former Honduran president was pardoned, ICE dropped its detainer on him, and he was whisked away to a luxury hotel in New York City.  —  Copy HTML

Trump administration releases remaining Gateway funds — and then some … Over the course of three installments the Trump administration paid Gateway a total of $235 million.  That includes the $205 million the federal government was in arrears to Gateway, along with another $30 million stemming …

Manhattan Hospital Ends Medical Treatment for Transgender Youth  —  NYU Langone Health cited the “current regulatory environment” in its decision to discontinue its gender medicine program for minors.  —  A major Manhattan hospital, faced with threats of losing federal funding …

Democrats Plan to Counter Trump's Speech to Congress With Rally  —  The House Democratic leader has asked rank-and-file members to sit quietly at the speech or skip it altogether, wary of creating a distraction.  —  Democrats knew in real time last year that they had bungled their response …

The ‘Most Massive Attack On Free Speech’ Is Happening Right Now, And The Twitter Files Crew Is Mighty Quiet  —  For the last five years, we had to endure an endless, breathless parade of hyperbole regarding the so-called “censorship industrial complex.”  We were told, repeatedly and at high volume …

Pope Rejects Trump's “Board of Peace” Invite  —  The Vatican will not be joining Donald Trump's “Board of Peace,” announcing Tuesday that it was turning down a January invitation from the White House.  —  “For us, there are ... some critical issues that should be resolved,” …

Democrats Just Humiliated Jasmine Crockett (And She Is PISSED)  —  There is major drama brewing in the Lone Star State, and the Democrats just got caught playing dirty.  In this episode, we spill the tea on why Stephen Colbert and CBS refused to air an interview with Democrat James Talarico.

Report: Staff at Dilley raiding cells to confiscate kids' letters and drawings detailing conditions inside  —  Staff at Dilley's South Texas Family Residential Center have begun raiding cells at the immigrant detention facility to confiscate letters from children detailing the conditions inside …

Where Christian nationalism is most dominant in the U.S.  —  Christian nationalism is now deeply entrenched inside today's Republican Party, according to a sweeping 50-state survey. … - The divide reflects a broader clash over whether America's future is pluralistic or rooted in a singular religious-national identity.

Inside Trump's ICE Concentration Camps  —  “This system is designed to punish, not protect”  —  An Irish immigrant caught up in Trump's mass-deportation web called in to RTÉ radio in Dublin on Feb. 9 from the detention camp in El Paso, Texas where he's been held captive for the last four months.

Trump has prepared speech on extraterrestrial life, Lara Trump says  —  President Trump is holding onto a speech detailing extraterrestrial life and spaceships, according to his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who said the president is waiting for the right time to deliver it.

Minneapolis Mayor's Emotional Message to Trump: You Failed to Break Us … In today's episode, we talk to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey about the latest developments in his city.  Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan have said they're winding down ICE's occupation, and Frey tells us there are some positive signs in this regard.

The right's obsession with American ‘heritage’ is all about who gets to be seen as ‘white’  —  What Elon Musk was really getting at when he incorrectly claimed “American culture” is of “English-Scotts-Irish origin.” … At the outset, it's appropriate to recognize that the recent uptick …

How one country stopped a Trump-style authoritarian in his tracks … BRASÍLIA, Brazil — André Borges's aunt was pregnant when they took her.  —  Borges, now 50, grew up under Brazil's military dictatorship.  In power from 1964-1985, the regime was violently censorial …

Judge declares mistrial in Texas ‘antifa’ protest case over attorney's T-shirt  —  Lawyer for defendants accused of terrorism at ICE protest decried by Trump appointee over shirt's potential for ‘bias’  —  A federal judge in Texas declared a mistrial on Tuesday after a defense lawyer wore …