‘This is not good policy’: Some GOP senators question advice Trump is receiving

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis is one of a growing number of Republicans who believe that President Donald Trump is getting faulty policy guidance from his White House advisers, potentially jeopardizing his legacy and the GOP’s chances of retaining their majority.

Several in the Senate Republican Conference, including those at the top in leadership and across the party’s political spectrum, have been openly questioning several policy pronouncements coming out of the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, including those that are straining international relations and conservative financial proposals.

Addressing the Senate chamber last week, Tillis said he is going to do “everything I can to point out advice” Trump is being given by people who are not considering the president’s legacy.

“They’re not thinking about good policy and from time to time, they are fading far out of the realm of what I consider to be good, conservative, free market ideology,” he said, pointing specifically to proposals on Greenland and credit card interest as well as the independence of the Federal Reserve.

—CQ-Roll Call

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says US is 'ready for a woman president'

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she believes the U.S. is ready to have a female president, pushing back on doubt cast by former first lady Michelle Obama.

Whitmer, a Democrat whom some see as a potential candidate for president in 2028, was asked by National Public Radio's Steve Inskeep last week about comments Obama made in November, when she said, in part, the country has "a lot of growing up to do."

"I love Michelle Obama, so the last thing I want to do is disagree with her," Whitmer said in response to Inskeep's question. "But, you know, I think America is ready for a woman president."

Michigan's governor added, "The question comes down to a choice between two people."

—The Detroit News

168 chemicals found in food linked to gut damage and fertility risks, study shows

Many everyday chemicals can impact your gut health and even male fertility, research shows. Proper food preparation, including washing and peeling fruits and vegetables, can protect from common pesticides.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge tested common chemicals, including many without known health impacts, and found 168 that could cause significant damage to microbes that help digest food and maintain gut health. They tested more than 1,000 chemicals in the lab, looking for interactions with 22 of the most common microbes necessary for a healthy digestive system.

“We’ve found that many chemicals designed to act only on one type of target, say insects or fungi, also affect gut bacteria,” Study first author Indra Roux said in an article published on Cambridge’s website. “We were surprised that some of these chemicals had such strong effects.”

Some of these, including chemicals used to put out fires and to create common plastics, were previously thought not to affect living organisms, they found.

—Baltimore Sun

Emirati rescue, Saudi fury: Middle East heavyweights split over Yemen

ADEN, Yemen — Stuck in Aden airport with an invitation from Saudi Arabia he couldn't — but very much wanted to — refuse, Aidarous al-Zubaidi played for time, nitpicking on points of protocol that delayed the plane's departure from Yemen for a few hours.

The Yemeni leader, who heads a separatist group backed by the Emirates but at loggerheads with Saudi Arabia, knew that whatever waited for him in Riyadh wouldn't be to his liking. So he kept stalling. Then a call came telling him the escape plan was ready.

Al-Zubaidi ran for it, taking five of his top lieutenants to a military camp in Aden. From there, he scrambled two convoys as decoys, then drove to the nearby coast as an Emirati drone kept watch overhead. By early morning, he was on a ship to Somalia, and from there, flew to the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi.

Al-Zubaidi's audacious escape this month— whose details were confirmed by Aden-based officials, militiamen, port workers and enraged statements from Saudi military officials — was the breaking point in an increasingly vitriolic feud between two of America's top Middle East allies; it's a conflict that puts Yemen's very existence into question, even as it promises more pain for a people already contending with one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

—Los Angeles Times