“Dimitri K. Simes, who was an adviser to Donald J. Trump’s first presidential campaign, and his wife, Anastasia Simes, were charged in 2024 with violating U.S. economic sanctions against Russia for their work for a state-owned television network.”

There’s now a link in the right rail of the site under “Member Tools” to make it easy to find. 

I’ve also reset the game so if you’ve already played today, you can now play again!

Leave your suggestions for changes in the comments.

“The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee waded in by announcing its latest round of ‘Red to Blue’ candidates, a designation that is tantamount to an endorsement.”

“While Democrats are in a strong position to capture the House majority in November, the batch of endorsements shows that the DCCC is not willing to take chances on who the party nominates in some of the most competitive districts.”

“The administration is discussing an executive order to create an A.I. working group that would bring together tech executives and government officials to examine potential oversight procedures, according to U.S. officials, who declined to be identified in order to discuss deliberations over sensitive policies. Among the potential plans is a formal government review process for new A.I. models.”

“The roughly 30-minute briefings have included a PowerPoint presentation about how congressional oversight works and best practices for handling it… Staff from the counsel’s office have encouraged political appointees to be careful about what they put in writing and provided guidance for how to respond to congressional inquiries in a timely manner.”

Said one White House official: “It’s obvious to everyone that it’s very likely. It was a sober-eyed conversation.”

President Trump announced Sunday that the United States would begin escorting stranded commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, calling the effort “Project Freedom.”

He described it as a humanitarian mission — a way to free ships and crews that had no role in the fighting but were effectively trapped by Iran’s threat to attack vessels moving through the waterway.

“The US military fought off attacks from Iranian drones, missiles and armed small boats as it facilitated the passage of two US-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper told reporters in a briefing on Monday.”

“And this brutalist political strategy is getting less subtle.”

Related from the Associated Press: Redistricting war accelerates winner-take-all politics straining American democracy.

“The warning came from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will be participating in the high-stakes meetings. Mr. Bessent has been leading an aggressive campaign to cripple Iran’s economy with a blitz of new sanctions.”

“The attacks appeared to be in response to President Donald Trump’s latest efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global energy.”

One of the most influential ideas in modern political science—that public policy largely ignores the preferences of average voters—may be wrong.

A new study by Cornell’s Peter Enns finds that the widely cited work of Martin Gilens (and later with Benjamin Page) was distorted by a statistical quirk known as Simpson’s paradox, which can make relationships in data appear to reverse when grouped in certain ways. 

“China is prodding Iranian officials to negotiate with the United States, while also quietly allowing its companies to give Iran commercial support that could help Iran’s military if Mr. Trump dives back into a full-blown war.”

“The Chinese government has not taken a strong position on the war. It has multiple goals and acts with caution, so it is hedging, officials and analysts say.”