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 …

Cyberattack from outside the U.S. hits newspapers across the country, preventing distribution, source says  —  A cyberattack that appears to have originated from outside the United States caused major printing and delivery disruptions at several newspapers across the country on Saturday including …

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 …

Graham sees potential for deal to end shutdown  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday on CNN a compromise on border security that “might save the day in the Senate” was possible in the Senate.  —  “At the end of the day, there's a deal to be had,” he said to “State of the Union” …

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 …

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.

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.

Climate change gets a network's spotlight  —  NBC will devote the full hour of Sunday's “Meet the Press” to climate change, featuring an interview with Michael Bloomberg vowing to elevate its prominence in the White House race.  —  Why it matters: It's a rare star turn for climate change …

Taxpayers Dish Out $54,000 For Mar-a-Lago Party Tents For New Year's Eve  —  The public eats the costs of a bash at Trump's Florida resort while federal workers go without pay amid the partial government shutdown.  —  Whether or not President Donald Trump ultimately decides to party …

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 …

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.

A Day, a Life: When a Medic Was Killed in Gaza, Was It an Accident?  —  KHUZAA, Gaza Strip — A young medic in a head scarf runs into danger, her only protection a white lab coat.  Through a haze of tear gas and black smoke, she tries to reach a man sprawled on the ground along the Gaza border.

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.

Trump Lies Again About 19,000 ‘Deleted’ FBI Text Messages  —  The inspector general of the president's own Justice Department concluded the texts were missing due to technological glitches; 20,000 were recovered.  —  As President Donald Trump raged against “angry Democrats” in a tweet Saturday …

Video shows migrant children dragged, pushed at since-shuttered shelter  —  Videos from a since-shuttered migrant shelter in Arizona show children being pushed and dragged by staffers, The Arizona Republic reported Friday.  —  The shelter, Hacienda Del Sol, was shut down in late October.

Trump's tweets on children dying in U.S. custody are a new low  —  With President Trump, there is no bottom.  Every time you think you have seen it, he manages to sink even lower.  —  It is not news that the president is indifferent to human suffering.  His limp response to the devastation …

Fears of Republican Power Grab in Michigan Fade as Governor Vetoes Bill  —  Just a few weeks ago, protesters marched through the Michigan Capitol claiming that Republicans were trying to subvert the will of voters and seize power from the Democrats who had just been elected governor, attorney general and secretary of state.