‘These children are barefoot.  In diapers.  Choking on tear gas.’  —  A little girl from Honduras stares into the camera, her young features contorted in anguish.  She's barefoot, dusty, and clad only in a diaper and T-shirt.  And she's just had to run from clouds of choking tear gas fired across the border by U.S. agents.

In 2018, political gravity caught up to Trump  —  First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.  —  WASHINGTON — A few hours into Election Night 2018, it felt like it was happening again …

How a Liberal Couple Became Two of N.Y.'s Biggest Trump Supporters  —  In some ways, they are a typical political power couple seeking to “Make America Great Again.”  —  They are throwing a $5 million fund-raiser for President Trump this winter, and are quick to make it known …

Twitter Slides Further into Irrelevancy  —  Jon Gabriel, Ed.  —  Twitter used to be interesting.  I signed up a decade ago and quickly became addicted.  You could meet smart people with similar interests, funny people with disturbing interests, and get breaking news a day before the cable nets got around to it.

Majority of Americans want Congress to cut arms sales to Saudi Arabia over Yemen war, survey finds  —  Survey also finds widespread ignorance about the conflict  — {{#singleComment}}{{total}} comment{{/singleComment}}{{^singleComme nt}}{{total}} comments{{/singleComment}}

In the United States, right-wing violence is on the rise  —  As a Republican, Mitchell Adkins complained of feeling like an outcast at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky. “Hardcore liberals” made fun of him, he wrote, and he faced “discrimination on a daily basis.”  He soon dropped out and enrolled in trade school.

Franken scandal haunts Gillibrand's 2020 chances  —  Just a month after Al Franken formally resigned from the Senate amid sexual misconduct allegations, the former senator met with an intimate group of Bay Area supporters at the home of major Democratic Party financiers Mary and Steve Swig.

AP Exclusive: First gene-edited babies claimed in China  —  HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world's first genetically edited babies — twin girls born this month whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.

Trump Accuses Mueller of ‘Conflicts of Interest’ in Explosive Tweet: ‘NO Collusion & Mueller Knows It!’  —  President Donald Trump on Monday morning attacked Special Counsel Robert Mueller directly and personally on Twitter, questioning his honesty and integrity.

White House lacks lawyers to deal with empowered Democrats  —  The White House counsel's office is down to a skeletal staff, potentially leaving them unprepared to deal with a flood of subpoenas for documents and witnesses when Democrats take control of the House.

The chaos behind Donald Trump's policy of family separation at the border  —  A 60 Minutes investigation has found the separations that dominated headlines this summer began earlier and were greater in number than the Trump administration admits  —  This past week, a federal judge struck down the president's latest immigration order.

The Monopolization of America  —  In one industry after another, big companies have become more dominant over the past 15 years, new data show.  —  The popular telling of the Boston Tea Party gets something wrong.  The colonists were not responding to a tax increase.

Former California GOP Congressman Says Republicans Had it Coming  —  NewsConference: Why Is the GOP Out of the OC?  —  A longtime leader of the California Republican congressional delegation says his former colleagues were punished by voters in the midterm election because they failed to stand up to the Trump Administration.

Another rebel Dem softens on opposing Pelosi for speaker  —  Rep. Stephen Lynch had signed a letter pledging to vote against the leader on the floor but says he will back her over a Republican.  —  Another Democrat who has threatened to vote on the House floor against Nancy Pelosi …

“It Makes Sense Now”: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Tie the Knot in a Secret Washington D.C. Ceremony  —  The Morning Joe co-hosts made it official during an intimate Saturday ceremony at the National Archives, in front of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, officiated by Rep. Elijah Cummings.

Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg Is Tainted by Crisis After Crisis  —  COO oversaw social-media company's meteoric rise, but her leadership is being questioned now  —  Facebook Inc. crises this year have put immense pressure on Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, undermining her authority …

Why Hollywood's new attack on Cheney is a boost for Trump … It was only a matter of time before Hollywood unleashed a big-budget hit job on the former vice president known half-jokingly as Darth Vader.  The $60 million Dick Cheney biopic “Vice” opens on Christmas Day, and its director …

Russia reopens Kerch Strait after Ukrainian confrontation: report  —  Russia has reopened the Kerch Strait, which links the Azov Sea with the Black Sea, to civilian shipping Monday, the country's TASS news agency reported.  —  The move came after Russia on Sunday opened fire …