Pelosi privately disses Trump's manhood after White House meeting  —  Nancy Pelosi was on fire with her fellow Democrats.  —  Minutes after a very public showdown with Donald Trump on Tuesday over his border wall with Mexico, the House minority leader returned to the Capitol and railed …

Beto O'Rourke narrowly tops wide-open MoveOn 2020 presidential straw poll; Biden runner up  —  The progressive group had backed Bernie Sanders in 2016 over Hillary Clinton.  —  An early straw poll of members of the progressive group MoveOn.org shows a wide-open competition for liberal voters …

Huawei CFO freed on bail  —  A Vancouver judge on Tuesday ruled that an executive of a Chinese tech firm accused of violating U.S. sanctions with Iran will be granted bail, according to media reports.  —  Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested on Dec. 1 in Canada at the request of the U.S …

Gap continues to widen between Trump and intelligence community on key issues  —  President Trump continues to reject the judgments of U.S. spy agencies on major foreign policy fronts, creating a dynamic in which intelligence analysts frequently see troubling gaps between the president's public statements …

Bladen counted early votes too soon in 2018.  Witness alleges numbers were leaked.  —  Bladen County election workers tallied the results of early voting before Election Day in violation of state rules and are accused of allowing outsiders to view them, a precinct worker wrote in an affidavit released by state Democrats.

Stormy Daniels Is Ordered to Pay Trump $293,000 in Fees and Sanctions  — Judge cuts Trump requested attorneys fees by 25 percent  — Michael Avenatti vows actress won't have to pay a dime  —  Stephanie Clifford, the adult-movie star professionally known as Stormy Daniels …

Strasbourg shooting: Gunman at large after two killed and 12 injured  —  At least two people have been killed and 12 others wounded in a shooting in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.  —  The gunman, known to security services, is on the run and is being hunted by police.

How the IRS Was Gutted  —  An eight-year campaign to slash the agency's budget has left it understaffed, hamstrung and operating with archaic equipment.  The result: billions less to fund the government.  That's good news for corporations and the wealthy.  —  In the summer of 2008 …

Congresswoman to Google CEO: Why when I search ‘idiot’ do I get pictures of Trump?  —  In an effort to understand how Google search algorithms work, a Democratic congresswoman asked the tech company's chief executive a simple question: “If you Google the word ‘idiot’ under images, a picture of Donald Trump comes up.

AP: Ivanka, Kushner could profit from tax break they pushed  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — An Associated Press investigation finds President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in law stand to benefit from a program they pushed that offers massive tax breaks to developers who invest in downtrodden American areas.

The Democrats' Best Response to Republican Power Grabs  —  The best option goes beyond retaliation or restraint.  —  Mr. Levy is a professor of political theory at McGill University.  —  In Michigan and Wisconsin, lame duck Republican-majority legislatures are enacting laws to limit the powers of incoming Democratic governors.

Slate's Newly Unionized Writers and Editors Give OK to Strike  — Outlet's editorial staff authorize walkout by 52 to 1 vote  — Company's “right-to-work” stance riles its employees  —  Writers and editors at Slate have voted nearly unanimously to green-light a strike …

How Theresa May blew Brexit  —  Shakespeare famously wrote of the “sceptered isle” of Britain acting as a moat “against the envy of less happier lands.”  Lately, the less happier lands are winning in a rout.  —  Britain is suffering a political meltdown as it struggles to make good on a historic vote …

The Arctic is in even worse shape than you realize  —  The Arctic Ocean has lost 95 percent of its oldest, thickest ice.  If this thinning trend continues, scientists fear an added boost to global warming.  —  Over the past three decades of global warming, the oldest and thickest ice …

The foundation of Trump's coalition is cracking  —  (CNN)Cracks have emerged in Donald Trump's hold on his core constituency of white working class voters, new data from the 2018 election reveals.  —  Though Republican candidates almost everywhere registered large margins among white voters without …

Paul Erickson, Maria Butina's Boyfriend, Reacts to Her Plea Agreement  —  Paul Erickson, Maria Butina's boyfriend, has reacted to her recent cooperation agreement with prosecutors.  His lawyer, Bill Hurd, offered a statement to The Daily Beast: “Paul Erickson is a good American.

Stephen Curry Doubts Moon Landings.  NASA Offers to Show Him the Rocks.  —  The space agency invited the Golden State star to visit the Johnson Space Center, “perhaps the next time the Warriors are in town to play the Rockets.”  —  It has been a big 24 hours for Stephen Curry.

You've hired me before, Mr President, so hire me again.  I'm the one person whose reputation can't be tarnished by becoming your Chief of Staff and I'm perfectly qualified for the job!  —  I wish to formally apply to be your new Chief of Staff.  —  You might not immediately recognize …

Shame Storm  —  After a lifetime of impeccably correct opinions, Ian Buruma found himself on the wrong side of the liberal consensus in September 2018, when he was forced to resign as editor of the New York Review of Books for having commissioned a piece called “Reflections from a Hashtag” …

Emmer, NRCC Start to Rebuild for 2020  —  The incoming chair doesn't think the GOP is doomed in the suburbs or that Trump will be a liability in 2020.  —  Ally Mutnick and Kyle Trygstad  —  ADD TO BRIEFCASE  —  Rep. Tom Emmer spent last Monday in a briefing on an email hack that plagued …

Trump loyalist at VA forced out after collecting pay but doing little work  —  The Trump administration has forced out a senior White House political appointee at the Department of Veterans Affairs who spent months on the federal payroll doing little to no work.