Bibi Netanyahu Makes Trump His Chump  —  For those of you confused over the latest fight between President Obama and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, let me make it simple: Barack Obama and John Kerry admire and want to preserve Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the Land of Israel.

What's really bugging Trump about Obama  —  Donald Trump can't decide whether he thinks the transition of power is going well or not.  —  But he knows he doesn't like how much attention Barack Obama is getting and is also bothered by what Trump and his closest advisers see as an active effort …

GOP Readies Swift Obamacare Repeal With No Replacement in Place  —  Senate will start in early January to repeal health-care law  —  Republicans split over how long to delay replacement plan  —  The first major act of the unified Republican government in 2017 will be a vote in Congress to begin tearing down Obamacare.

Debbie Reynolds, ‘Singin’ in the Rain' Star and Carrie Fisher's Mother, Dies at 84  —  Debbie Reynolds, the Oscar-nominated singer-actress who was the mother of late actress Carrie Fisher, has died at Cedars-Sinai hospital.  She was 84.  —  “She wanted to be with Carrie,” her son Todd Fisher told Variety.

Milo Yiannopoulos Strikes $250K Book Deal (Exclusive)  —  “They said banning me from Twitter would finish me off.  Just as I predicted, the opposite has happened,” says Yiannopoulos.  —  Milo Yiannopoulos has parlayed his ban from Twitter — and some controversial appearances on college campuses …

DC private schools giving Kellyanne Conway the brush-off  —  MORE FROM:  —  Kellyanne Conway is worried establishment elites in Washington, DC, are so prejudiced against President-elect Trump that she won't be able to get her kids into private school in the nation's capital.

Trump Takes Credit for Sprint Plan to Add 5,000 Jobs in U.S.  —  By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and MICHAEL J. de la MERCEDDecember 28, 2016  —  President-elect Donald J. Trump took credit on Wednesday for a decision by Sprint to add 5,000 jobs in the United States, as he tried to deliver on his promise …

Americans — especially but not exclusively Trump voters — believe crazy, wrong things  —  Many Americans believe a lot of dumb, crazy, destructive, provably wrong stuff.  Lately this is especially (though not exclusively) true of Donald Trump voters, according to a new survey.

What counties that flipped from Romney to Clinton have in common  —  A new analysis of housing prices reveals one way Hillary Clinton's and Donald Trump's supporters have been living in two economies.  One has benefited from lucrative but erratic progress in global markets …

Trump on Russian hacking: ‘Computers have complicated lives very greatly’  —  on Wednesday said he thinks computers have made people's lives much more complex when asked about Russian hacking.  —  “I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly,” the president-elect said Wednesday …

Syria ceasefire deal reached between regime and rebels, Russia says  —  Istanbul, Turkey (CNN)The Syrian government and opposition rebels have agreed terms for a ceasefire in the country's long-running civil war, Vladimir Putin announced.  —  According to Russian state media TASS …

David Fahrenthold tells the behind-the-scenes story of his year covering Trump  —  “Arnold and Tim, if you'd come up, we're going to give you a nice, beautiful check,” Donald Trump said.  He held up an oversize check, the kind they give to people who win golf tournaments.  It was for $100,000.

Nevada's voter-OK'ed gun background checks blocked  —  Final update  —  The expansion of gun background checks approved by Nevada voters last month will not happen as expected, based on an opinion released Wednesday by the Nevada Attorney General's Office.

Open Society Needs Defending  —  Open societies are in crisis, and various forms of closed societies - from fascist dictatorships to mafia states - are on the rise.  Because elected leaders failed to meet voters' legitimate expectations and aspirations, electorates have become disenchanted …

The good that could come from a Trump presidency  —  Gloom is a terrible way to ring out the old, and despair is of no help in trying to imagine the new.  —  So let us consider what good might come from the political situation in which we will find ourselves in 2017.

DMV licensed 800,000 undocumented immigrants under 2-year-old law  —  On the day that California officials implemented a controversial law that allows undocumented residents to obtain driver's licenses, DMV offices throughout the state were packed with immigrants looking to take advantage of the opportunity.