McConnell rebukes Rep. King for racial remarks as House Democrats ponder sanctions  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell became the highest-ranking Republican to speak out against Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) following his racially charged comments, saying that there is 'no place in the Republican Party …

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is going to Canada for surgery  —  Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery.  —  Paul, an ophthalmologist, said the operation is related to an injury in 2017 when his neighbor …

Transcripts detail how FBI debated whether Trump was ‘following directions’ of Russia  —  (CNN)In the chaotic aftermath at the FBI following Director James Comey's firing, a half-dozen senior FBI officials huddled to set in motion the momentous move to open an investigation into President Donald Trump …

I'm A Senior Trump Official, And I Hope A Long Shutdown Smokes Out The Resistance  —  The Daily Caller is taking the rare step of publishing this anonymous op-ed at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose career would be jeopardized by its disclosure.

Rasmussen poll shows Trump with lowest approval in a year  —  A conservative-leaning poll released Monday showed President Trump with his lowest approval ratings in almost a year.  —  The Rasmussen poll found that 43 percent of likely voters polled approve of Trump's job performance …

Bipartisan Senate group forming in search of shutdown deal amid impasse between Trump, party leaders  —  A bipartisan group of rank-and-file senators are planning to hold discussions on how to end the weeks-long government shutdown, with talks between congressional leaders and the White House at a standstill.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is freaking out the news media.  And it's working for her.  —  She's been on the job for less than two weeks and already has generated more national press coverage than some members of Congress get in their whole careers.  —  Not that it's been all positive, of course.

P&G Challenges Men to Shave Their ‘Toxic Masculinity’ in Gillette Ad  —  Spot pegged to #MeToo asks ‘Is this the best a man can get?’  —  Gillette is embracing the #MeToo movement in a new digital ad campaign aimed at men, the latest message from an advertiser attempting to change societal norms.

Second federal court blocks Trump's contraception rule  —  A federal judge in Pennsylvania put a nationwide block on Trump administration rules allowing virtually any employer to deny workers' birth control coverage, one day after a federal judge halted the rules in a smaller group of states.

The House Democrats' Colossal Election Reform Bill Could Save American Democracy  —  The Democrats' first order of business as they took control of the 116th Congress was introducing H.R. 1, the colossal “For the People Act.”  This 571-page behemoth of a bill covering voting rights …

Shuttered IRS Is Sending Automated Warnings of Asset Seizures, With Nobody to Call to Stop Them  —  The letter from the IRS is dated December 24, 2018, the Monday after the start of the government shutdown.  The headline reads, “Notice of intent to seize (levy) your property or rights to property.”

Trump's DC Circuit Nominee — And Reported Supreme Court Contender — Wrote Inflammatory Op-Eds In College  —  WASHINGTON — Neomi Rao — President Donald Trump's pick for a powerful federal judgeship and a reported US Supreme Court contender — wrote a string of op-eds in college …

The Next American Car Recession Has Already Started  —  These should be boom times for Detroit.  Unemployment is at a half-century low, gasoline is cheap and auto sales in the U.S. were near record levels last year.  Yet American automakers are closing factories, cutting shifts and laying off thousands of workers.

SPIDERS OF MARS Skin-crawling moment hundreds of spiders ‘rain’ from the sky in Brazil leaving terrified residents running for cover  —  The 14-year-old who filmed the incredible moment said it left him ‘stunned and scared’ as the arachnids floated in the air

Shutdown could cut flights out of Denver International Airport, air traffic controllers say  —  “At this point the federal government is starting to become an unreliable employer.”  —  Show Caption  —  of … Coloradans could be waiting in longer lines for fewer flights …

Bernie Sanders Will Meet With Former Female Staffers About 2016 Campaign Sexism And Harassment  —  Bernie Sanders will meet on Wednesday with women who have said they experienced sexual harassment and gender discrimination while working on his 2016 presidential campaign …

Ivanka Trump to Help Select Nominee for World Bank President  —  President Trump's daughter will assist Mnuchin, Mulvaney in the U.S. nomination process  —  President Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, will help Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney lead …

Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib photographed with pro-Hezbollah activist who says Israel has no right to exist  —  Freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was photographed with a Palestinian activist who praised the terrorist group Hezbollah, said Israel did not have the right to exist …

It's Time for T.S.A. Workers to Strike  —  The shutdown is painful, but it is also an opportunity for labor to take a stand.  —  Ms. Ehrenreich is the author of “Nickel and Dimed” and the founder of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.  Mr. Stevenson is a former labor organizer.

No Coincidence Here: Trump's Bezos Attack Was a Valentine to The Enquirer  —  Even by the tweeting habits of the 45th president of the United States, it was a puzzler.  —  Until you examined it.  Then it started to make sense.  —  A Twitter post on Sunday night showed Mr. Trump …

GOP's John Kasich is looking to join CNN or MSNBC amid speculation he could run for president in 2020  — Republican John Kasich, who is thinking about running for president in 2020, is likely to announce this week that he will join a major cable news network.

China's Annual Trade Surplus With U.S. Hits Record Despite Trump's Tariff Offensive  —  China posted a trade surplus of $323.32 billion with the U.S. in 2018  —  BEIJING—China's trade surplus with the U.S. hit a record last year, as robust American demand for Chinese goods undercut …

You Should Care That Richard Spencer's Wife Says He Abused Her  —  Despite the so-called alt-right's attempt to be respectable, violence seems to follow it everywhere — even, allegedly, into Spencer's own home.  —  Nina Kouprianova and Richard Spencer were married during a small ceremony in Niagara Falls in August 2010.

Redefining Representation: The Women of the 116th Congress  —  Just over a century ago, Jeannette Rankin of Montana won a seat in the House of Representatives, becoming the first woman ever elected to federal office.  In 1917, 128 years after the first United States Congress convened, she was sworn into its 65th session.

THE YEAR OF TRUMP?  —  The second truth is that peace negotiations are unlikely to work.  Talks have taken place on and off over the years, but diplomacy is never far removed from facts and trends on the ground.  Both work against a negotiated settlement.  —  The situation on the ground …