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 …

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 …

McAuliffe says Democrats shouldn't ‘give an inch’  —  “Democrats should not give an inch,” former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Sunday when asked about the resolution of the partial government shutdown.  —  Referring to President Donald Trump as the “angry, emotional …

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.

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.

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 …

Putin tells Trump that Moscow is open for dialogue  —  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin told his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in a New Year letter on Sunday that Moscow was ready for dialogue on a “wide-ranging agenda”, the Kremlin said following a series of failed attempts to hold a new summit.

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 …

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 …

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 U.S. put a Yemeni warlord on a terrorist list.  One of its close allies is still arming him.  —  TAIZ, Yemen — Last year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on a powerful Yemeni Islamist warlord, accusing him of being a “prominent military instructor” and fundraiser for al-Qaeda …

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 …