Bush's Funeral Wasn't About Trump.  But Of Course It Was.  —  The memorial service for George H.W. Bush was a perfectly civil and eminently civilized event, and if one was listening in a literal-minded way it all sounded like a grand exception to life in modern Washington …

Over a thousand absentee ballots possibly destroyed in controversial North Carolina House race: report  —  Over a thousand absentee ballots from likely Democratic voters may have been destroyed in the race for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District last month as allegations of fraud on behalf of the Republican candidate mount.

This Is How The Accusations Against Neil deGrasse Tyson Finally Came To Light  —  No one believed Tchiya Amet when she said Tyson had raped her in the 1980s.  Now, three other women tell BuzzFeed News that he harassed them, including one who's sharing her story publicly for the first time.

Saudi-funded lobbyist paid for 500 rooms at Trump's hotel after 2016 election  —  Lobbyists representing the Saudi government reserved blocks of rooms at President Trump's D.C. hotel within a month of Trump's election in 2016 — paying for an estimated 500 nights at the luxury hotel in just three months …

Kamala Harris aide resigns after harassment, retaliation settlement surfaces  —  A longtime top staff member of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris resigned Wednesday after The Sacramento Bee inquired about a $400,000 harassment and retaliation settlement resulting from his time working for Harris at the California Department of Justice.

The Wisconsin Senate approved 82 Scott Walker appointees in the lame duck: Here's the full list  —  There's been lots of talk about the Wisconsin Senate approving dozens of Gov. Scott Walker's appointments to state boards during its marathon lame-duck session Tuesday.

Trump's slow-motion staff ‘shakeup’ stunts 2019 planning  —  President Donald Trump is still looking for a new United Nations ambassador.  He has no deputy national security adviser.  His attorney general and EPA administrator are serving in an acting capacity, and his constant badmouthing …

“They're Beginning to Think About Whether Mike Pence Should Be Running Again": As the Mueller Fire Nears, Trump Ponders Jettisoning His Loyal V.P.  —  New polling, and the Nick Ayers-John Kelly subplot, are feeding doubts about Pence and 2020.  —  After Michael Cohen's surprise plea agreement …

Don't condemn white nationalists, Veterans Affairs' diversity chief was told after Charlottesville, emails show  —  A top White House appointee at the Department of Veterans Affairs sought to silence the agency's chief diversity officer, who — in the aftermath of last year's racially charged violence …

Canada has arrested Huawei's global chief financial officer in Vancouver  —  Canada has arrested the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies who is facing extradition to the United States on suspicion she violated U.S. trade sanctions against Iran.

As Flynn Case Winds Down, Investigation of Turkish Lobbying Persists  —  WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in Virginia are investigating a secret Turkish lobbying effort that once involved Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser, even as Mr. Flynn's role in the special counsel's …

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi Considers Term Limits On Committee Chairs  —  Pelosi reportedly held a meeting with a holdout and offered to support the limits in exchange for his vote for her as speaker.  —  WASHINGTON House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) …

Trump on Coming Debt Crisis: 'I Won't Be Here' When It Blows Up  —  The president thinks the balancing of the nation's books is going to, ultimately, be a future president's problem.  —  Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump's aides and advisers have tried to convince him of the importance of tackling the national debt.

FBI email chain may provide most damning evidence of FISA abuses yet  —  Just before Thanksgiving, House Republicans amended the list of documents they'd like President Trump to declassify in the Russia investigation.  With little fanfare or explanation, the lawmakers led …

24 Amazon workers sent to hospital after robot accidentally unleashes bear spray  —  Twenty-four Amazon workers in New Jersey have been hospitalized after a robot accidentally tore a can of bear repellent spray in a warehouse, officials said.  —  The two dozen workers were treated at five local hospitals …

My Apology to Aurora  —  “I did something inexcusable,” Dunham writes in her guest editor letter for The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment issue of defending ‘Girls’ writer Murray Miller after he'd been accused of sexually assaulting an actress.  —  This year has been incredible for women in Hollywood.

Why this progressive Texan can't get excited about Beto O'Rourke  —  If only the electric chill in the air were an augur of fast-approaching holidays and not the static generated by so many Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls jockeying for the attention of party leaders and donors.

Prosecutors ramp up foreign lobbying probe in New York  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Spinning off from the special counsel's Russia probe, prosecutors are ramping up their investigation into foreign lobbying by two major Washington firms that did work for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort …

The president has been shockingly presidential for the last six minutes  —  Could this be the start of a new era?  —  President Trump has been notably subdued over the past eight hours.  He has refrained from the harsh, personal invective that so characterized the preceding months of his presidency.

Judge Napolitano: I Expect Donald Trump Jr. to Be Indicted  —  Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano thinks things aren't looking that great for Donald Trump Jr.  —  Napolitano joined Mediaite founder and ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams on his SiriusXM show today to discuss the big news …

Milo Yiannopoulos lasted a single day on Patreon before getting banned  —  Former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos attempted to fund a “magnificent 2019 comeback” on the crowdfunding platform Patreon, only to be banned after one day.  Yiannopoulos' Patreon campaign, whose banner image is seen above …

House Democrats plan to send Trump aides' transcripts to Mueller  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January plan to send Special Counsel Robert Mueller the transcripts of testimony by some of President Donald Trump's closest associates …

Marc Lamont Hill and the legacy of punishing black internationalists  —  Noura Erakat is a Palestinian American human rights attorney and assistant professor at George Mason University.  She is the author of “Justice for Some: Law as Politics in the Question of Palestine,” which will be published next year by Stanford University Press.