Many in U.S. Skeptical Trump Can Handle Presidential Duties  —  PRINCETON, N.J. — As Donald Trump prepares to take the presidential oath on Jan. 20, less than half of Americans are confident in his ability to handle an international crisis (46%), to use military force wisely (47%) …

Claiming mandate, GOP Congress lays plans to propel sweeping conservative agenda  —  For six years, since they took back the House of Representatives, Republicans have added to a pile of legislation that moldered outside the White House.  In their thwarted agenda, financial regulations were to be unspooled.

Former Chicago police chief blasts Black Lives Matter  —  Former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on Sunday blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for causing a rise in violent crime around the country.  —  During a radio interview with John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York …

America Becomes a Stan  —  In 2015 the city of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, was graced with a new public monument: a giant gold-plated sculpture portraying the country's president on horseback.  This may strike you as a bit excessive.  But cults of personality are actually the norm in the …

Impeaching Trump  —  The process begins now.  —  Donald Trump is wildly unfit to be president, and he will demonstrate that in ways that break the law and violate the Constitution.  Since the election, there have been three wishful efforts to keep Trump from the presidency …

Intellectuals for Trump  —  A rogue group of conservative thinkers try to build a governing ideology around a President-elect who disdains ideology.  —  The most cogent argument for electing Donald Trump was made not by Trump, or by his campaign, but by a writer who, unlike Trump …

Obama could still force Garland onto court during ‘intersession recess’  —  President Obama will have one last chance to force Judge Merrick Garland onto the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday — but it's a legal gamble and one that has so many pitfalls that even those who say he could get away with it believe it isn't worth the fight.

Perdue Is Trump's Lead Pick for Agriculture Secretary  —  Perdue's selection for agriculture post isn't yet final  —  Several other candidates have been interviewed by Trump  —  Sonny Perdue III, the former governor of Georgia, is president-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate …

‘Stray’ bullet hits Texas legislator in the head at New Year's celebration  —  Texas state Rep. Armando “Mando” Martinez is recovering from his wound at a hospital.  “I was given another chance at life and I'm grateful for it,” he said.  —  (CNN)A Texas lawmaker is lucky to be alive …

Facebook ‘censors’ nude statue of sea god Neptune, a well-known Renaissance symbol of northern Italian city  —  A virile, muscled statue of the sea god Neptune has fallen foul of Facebook's prudish policies on nudity after an Italian art historian was told to remove it from her web page.

Investigators question Israel's Netanyahu over alleged receipt of gifts  —  Police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for three hours under caution at his official residence in Jerusalem on Monday on suspicion of receiving gifts from businessmen in breach of his role as a public servant.

About that bogus claim that North Carolina is no longer a democracy . . .  Nick Stevenson directed me to a recent op-ed in the Raleigh News & Observer, where political science professor Andrew Reynolds wrote: … So far so good.  But then comes the punchline:

Donald Trump's New Year's Eve speech cited Dubai business partner  —  Hussain Sajwani, founder of the DAMAC Group  —  (CNN)Donald Trump gave a lengthy description of his electoral victory, and lavished praise upon a Dubai business partner, during a ten-minute speech to 800 paying guests at his Florida estate Saturday night.

Obama Plans Farewell Speech From Chicago  —  HONOLULU — President Obama will give a farewell address next week from Chicago, his hometown, most likely his last chance to defend his legacy directly to the country before Donald J. Trump is sworn in, the White House announced on Monday.

The art of getting to know Trump  —  In the fall of 2006 right after then Sen. Barack Obama announced to Tim Russert on Meet the Press he was seriously considering a run for the nomination of the Democratic Party for president, thousands of reporters, journalists, bloggers …

Why Corporations Are Helping Donald Trump Lie About Jobs  —  President-elect Donald Trump would like everybody to believe that his election is energizing the economy by forcing businesses to create thousands of jobs in the United States.  And companies like Sprint seem perfectly happy …

Journalism books on his to-do list  —  BRINKLEY — Katie Jacques has been publisher of the weekly newspaper that serves Brinkley and Monroe County for 20 years — longer than the county's newest newspaperman has been alive.  —  Jacques last week sold the assets of the Central Delta Argus-Sun …