Outgoing White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly defends his rocky tenure … In August 2017, shortly after John F. Kelly became White House chief of staff, he convened crucial meetings on Afghanistan at President Trump's golf club in Bedminster, N.J.  —  Top officials from the Pentagon and the CIA …

Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal: President Donald Trump immoral, doesn't tell the truth  —  The former top commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, retired four-star Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, criticized President Donald Trump's behavior and handling of the presidency …

Sen. Graham Floats Temporary DACA Permits Deal For Wall Funding  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) floated the idea of a compromise deal to end the government shutdown on Sunday, proposing an extension of work permits for “Dreamers” who entered the country illegally as children in exchange …

Here's how Paradise ignored warnings and became a deathtrap … The fate of Paradise was cast long before a windstorm last month fueled the deadliest fire in California history.  —  The ridge settlement was doomed by its proximity to a crack in the mighty wall of the Sierra Nevada, a deep canyon that bellowed gale-force winds.

Computer virus hits Tribune Publishing, Los Angeles Times  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) — A computer virus hit newspaper printing plants in Los Angeles and at Tribune Publishing newspapers across the country.  —  Tribune Publishing said a computer virus disrupted production of the Chicago Tribune …

Stephen Miller steps into spotlight amid chaos in ‘zombie’ White House press shop  —  WASHINGTON — In recent weeks, the White House has been shaken by an ongoing government shutdown, tumbling markets and the abrupt departure of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.  With

Trump's tweets: Judges in government secrecy cases say they are ‘speculation’ and not ‘pure fact’  —  “Speculation.”  “Unofficial information.”  “Political statements rather than assertions of pure fact.”  —  Those are words federal judges have used to describe President Donald Trump's tweets …

These two Democratic senators are waging a bigoted campaign against Catholics … Funny who is an “extremist” these days.  —  Senators Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono (Democrats of California and Hawaii, respectively) are challenging the nomination of Brian Buescher to the US District Court …

Jeffries: Trump's border wall request ‘a ransom note’  —  President Donald Trump's demand for billions of dollars to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border amounts to a “ransom note” for taxpayers being held “hostage” by the partial government shutdown, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Sunday.

Alice Walker's Terrible Anti-Semitic Poem Felt Personal — to Her and to Me  —  When I first read Alice Walker's The Color Purple, I leaned into every word, inhaling Celie's tragic and triumphant story.  In Celie, I felt the presence and pain of my female family members brought up in rural Alabama.

Videos: Migrant children dragged, pushed at Southwest Key shelter  —  Videos from a Southwest Key shelter for migrant children show staffers dragging and pushing children, incidents that occurred shortly before the federal government suspended the shelter's operations early this fall.

A year of unprecedented deception: Trump averaged 15 false claims a day in 2018  —  President Trump's year of lies, false statements and misleading claims started with a series of morning tweets.  —  Over a couple of hours Jan. 2, Trump made false claims about three of his favorite targets …

The Real Reason Why Some Bernie Sanders Fans Have It In For Beto O'Rourke  —  They worry that defections from Sanders' 2016 team will “whitewash” O'Rourke's policy record.  —  The progressive commentariat has been buzzing in recent weeks about the barrage of unflattering reporting …

Facebook apologizes for banning evangelist Franklin Graham for 24 hours  —  Facebook is apologizing to evangelist Franklin Graham for banning him from posting on the site for 24 hours last week, a Facebook spokesperson told The Charlotte Observer on Saturday.

No Peace for Them and No Honor for Us  —  Nothing in the presidency of Donald Trump combines tragedy and farce so perfectly as his decision to withdraw the 2,000 American troops in Syria.  —  “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” he tweeted on the morning of December 19.

The Supreme Court's term is likely to heat up in 2019  —  The justices are about to consider a number of Donald Trump's most controversial policies  —  IT HAS been a fairly quiet few months at the Supreme Court.  Since early October, the justices have heard 32 oral arguments in mostly tame cases …