Jumping Ship: The announcement by House Speaker Paul Ryan that he won’t run for re-election is a sign of turmoil and instability within the Republican Party under President Trump. Shortly after Ryan broke the news, another Republican congressman also announced his retirement.

So far, 37 Republicans have announced they are retiring from the House, and three from the Senate.

Ryan, 48, had long signaled that being in Congress is not his whole life and he wanted to be home with his wife and kids in Wisconsin. But the political theory is that a lot of Republicans, including Ryan, don’t want to be around to face personal or party defeat in the fall. Ryan was never thrilled about being drafted as Speaker and wouldn’t want to be the minority leader.

Ryan said he had achieved his major political goals of tax reform and increased spending for the military. He said he had worked his whole political career for tax reform, although it’s notable that he had no plan in his top drawer when he had the voting majority to pass it. He also, after ranting about the deficit under Democratic presidents, voted in one of his final major acts to make it even bigger.

LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzik delivers a dissenting opinion on Ryan saying, “Of all his powers, the ability to cloud Washington journalists’ minds was the most remarkable.” He goes on, “Time after time, Ryan would be hailed as a sage: a budget wonk, a ‘reformer’ of Social Security and Medicare, a defender of the poor. Time after time, he would articulate the most transparent lies about social insurance programs and the Affordable Care Act, while interviewers as august as Charlie Rose sat at his feet, lapping it up. It was a conspiracy of ignorance that placed the welfare of millions of Americans at risk.”

Investigations, Inc.: Another item the FBI was looking for in its raid on President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen was records related to the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about how he would grab women in intimate parts and kiss them.

Overall, The NY Times reports, the warrant sought evidence about suppressing information damaging to Trump before election day. That includes the nondisclosure agreements with two women.

The Times published a blistering editorial saying, “Mr. Trump has spent his career in the company of developers and celebrities, and also of grifters, cons, sharks, goons and crooks. He cuts corners, he lies, he cheats, he brags about it, and for the most part, he’s gotten away with it, protected by threats of litigation, hush money and his own bravado. Those methods may be proving to have their limits when they are applied from the Oval Office.”

The Russia Thing: After threatening Russia yesterday morning, Trump was tweeting a different tune by the afternoon. He actually had harsher things to say about Democrats and federal investigators than about the Russians, who’ve seized other people’s territory and interfered with democratic elections. Trump wrote, “Much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation, headed up by the all Democrat loyalists, or people that worked for Obama. Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter). No Collusion, so they go crazy!”

That reference to Rosenstein packs a wallop. Deputy Atty. General Rod Rosenstein backed the warrant investigating Trump associates, and also wrote a letter justifying the firing of FBI Director James Comey, at the behest of Trump himself. Now Trump’s turned that into a weapon against Rosenstein.

The Social Network: Things got a little tougher for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg yesterday as he spent a second day on Capitol Hill, this time submitting to five hours of grilling in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Joseph Kennedy III pierced Zuckerberg’s claim that Facebook users control their own data, drawing the distinction between the information users enter themselves, and the data Facebook collects about the users to help advertisers target customers.

Alexis Madrigal writes for The Atlantic website that, “With Facebook, the concept of owning your data begins to verge on meaningless if it doesn’t include that second, more holistic concept: not just the data users create and upload explicitly, but all the other information that has become attached to their profiles by other means.”

Remember this isn’t just about selling stuff on Facebook, it’s about selling ideas and political influence. The examination of Facebook was sparked by the use of advertisements and fake news reports generated from Russia during the 2016 election.

Revenge Best Served: A California woman has been awarded $6.4 million in a lawsuit against her former boyfriend, who posted explicit photos and videos of her online after they broke up. It’s a ground-breaking decision in the fight against what’s known as “revenge porn.”

The woman said that after the material was posted she was sent unwanted texts and emails, and eventually began to fear for her life.

The suit was filed by the Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project, an organization founded to stop online harassment and nonconsensual posting of explicit material.

The Show Me State: The Missouri legislature has released a graphic report on the affair Gov. Eric Greitens had with his hairdresser, describing how he taped her wrists to exercise equipment, blindfolded her, and spanked her. That was their first date and the legislature’s first best-seller.

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