Hemant Mehta reports at The Friendly Atheist: Over the weekend, the WannaCry ransomware attack targeted Microsoft Windows systems across the globe, even disrupting hospitals in Britain. But Russia won’t have to worry about anything like that happening because the Orthodox Church’s Patriarch Kirill apparently visited the Ministry of Internal Affairs and sprayed holy water on the computers. They can hack …

AL.com reports: Alabama’s special election to fill a U.S. Senate seat has a new and unexpected candidate. Michael Hansen, the openly gay executive director of Alabama environmental advocacy group Gasp, announced on social media that he is seeking the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Luther Strange and vacated in January by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “Let’s not kid ourselves, …

The Hill reports: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday that if President Trump didn’t try to shut down an investigation into a former adviser, he should prove it. “Providing the Congress the tapes and the memos may be the only way for this administration to credibly make a case to a justifiably skeptical American public about its …

Newsweek reports: Footage has emerged of a mass brawl outside the Turkish embassy in Washington during which men believed to be Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards are seen attacking protesters just hours after the Turkish president’s meeting with Donald Trump. The brawl ensued as Erodgan’s security detail and pro-Erdogan supporters confronted Kurdish and Armenian demonstrators. A video—posted by Voice of America—showed …

After weeks of rumors, this morning MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell acknowledged that his contract with the network may not be renewed. But O’Donnell might not be the only one departing. Via Mediaite: The air is thick with MSNBC intrigue: amidst a week of rumors that primetime host Lawrence O’Donnell’s days at the network are numbered, a Daily Beast report says …

Reuters reports: Besieged by controversy at home, U.S. President Donald Trump is under pressure to stick to the script and avoid fresh flare-ups when he embarks this week on his first foreign trip, a nine-day trek to the Middle East and Europe. Some doubt whether Trump, a businessman-turned politician who never held elective office before becoming president in January, is …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday morning he will soon announce an executive order addressing protections for the LGBT community. The Democratic governor made the remark to a sympathetic audience in Washington, D.C., where he said he would also continue to fight against discrimination and push for voting rights and education funding. “My goal is …

Variety reports: Jimmy Kimmel is taking it upon himself to explain the Trump administration to the kids. On Tuesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! the host introduced an animated video in the style of Schoolhouse Rock!, parodying the famous song “I’m Just a Bill” in order to explain President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and what he called “the new American way.” “We are …

The Hill reports: Russian leader Vladimir Putin said early Wednesday that President Trump did not share secrets with Russian officials last week and is willing to give Congress transcripts to prove it. The Associated Press and Reuters reported that Putin is willing to hand over the records of the president’s conversation with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador. Two days ago, …

The BBC reports: US soldier Chelsea Manning has been released from prison after serving seven years for leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and military files to Wikileaks. A US Army spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that she had left Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas. Most of what remained of her 35-year sentence was commuted by then-US President …

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s approval rating is at a new low — and that’s before claims that he disclosed sensitive information to Russian officials in the Oval Office and tried to shut down an FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, conducted after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey but before the two …

The Hill reports: Independent Sen. Angus King (Maine) said he now “reluctantly” believes that impeachment is on the table for President Trump following reports that he asked former FBI Director James Comey to end the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In an interview on CNN Tuesday evening, Wolf Blitzer asked King if the details of the report …

The New York Times reports: President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting. “I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, …

Last week a Kentucky appeals court ruled that it’s legal to refuse to serve LGBT customers in the name of Jesus. American Family Association radio host Bryan Fischer reacts: For the government to force someone to do work that violates his conscience is nothing less than tyranny. And for a man to be compelled under threat of punishment to perform …

The Hill reports: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) says that lawmakers should not refrain from discussing President Trump’s impeachment. “We don’t have to be afraid to use the word impeachment,” she said Tuesday at the Center for American Progress (CAP) conference in Washington, D.C. “We don’t have to think impeachment is out of our reach.” “All we have to do is …

Via Mediaite: Roger Stone, one of President Donald Trump’s oldest and closest advisers outside the White House believes the Trump presidency is in great danger from within. Appearing in a bizarre outdoor YouTube video with InfoWars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Stone said that Trump enemies were going to claim that his recent leaking of classified information to senior …

“It is time for an investigation of Russia’s intervention in the U.S. Election. There is too much at stake at home and abroad to not take this step. There is so much conflicting information from many sources; Americans deserve the opportunity to learn the truth. As stated before, I continue to support any efforts done by the House Intelligence Committee …

And you know what you’ll totally need now that the apocalypse is upon us? Food buckets! Brian Tashman reports at Right Wing Watch: Last week on “Revelation in the News,” televangelist Jim Bakker repeated his claims that criticism of Donald Trump is inciting violence and bringing about the Apocalypse and End Times, and asserted that conservative media pundits are being …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Israel was the source of the classified intelligence US President Donald trump revealed to Russian officials at a meeting at the White House last week, The New York Times reported on Tuesday evening. According to the Times, “a current and a former American official familiar with how the United States obtained the information” has revealed Israel …

Politico reports: Goodbye Winter White House. Hello Desert White House. President Donald Trump is scheduled to depart Friday on an 11-day, five-country tour that comes at a moment of major turmoil in his administration – and, as usual, he’ll be joined by a large traveling band of his top aides, who often stick close to the president for fear of …