Biden says he would not comply with a Senate subpoena in the impeachment trial of President Trump  —  Former Vice President Joe Biden confirmed Friday he would not comply with a subpoena to testify in a Senate trial of President Donald Trump.  —  The Democratically controlled U.S. House …

Don Imus, Legendary ‘Imus in the Morning’ Host, Dies at 79  —  The controversial radio personality passed away on Friday morning at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in College Station, Texas.  —  Radio personality Don Imus, whose insult humor and savage comedy catapulted him to a long-lasting …

McGrath files to challenge McConnell in Senate race  —  FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Calling her party's victory in the Kentucky governor's race a jolt of momentum for her own bid to unseat a Republican incumbent, Democrat Amy McGrath on Friday officially filed to challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell …

UN approves Russian-sponsored, China-backed bid on new cybercrime convention  —  The resolution was approved on Friday by the general assembly by a vote of 79-60, with 33 abstentions The US, European powers and rights groups fear that the resolution would legitimise crackdowns on expression …

The Secrets of Jewish Genius  —  It's not about having higher I.Q.s.  —  An eminent Lithuanian rabbi is annoyed that his yeshiva students devote their lunch breaks to playing soccer instead of discussing Torah.  The students, intent on convincing their rav of the game's beauty, invite him to watch a professional match.

Rocket Attack in Iraq Kills U.S. Contractor, Wounds Four U.S. Troops  —  U.S. hasn't assigned blame but is focusing on militia backed by Iran  —  A U.S. contractor was killed and four U.S. troops were wounded when more than 30 rockets were fired Friday at an Iraqi military base, a U.S. defense official said.

Federal judge to halt latest North Carolina voter ID law  —  Raleigh, North Carolina — Republican attempts to require photo identification to vote in North Carolina are being thwarted again by judges hearing arguments that the mandate is tainted by bias that would deter black and Latino residents.

Fed study finds Trump tariffs backfired  —  President Donald Trump's strategy to use import tariffs to protect and boost U.S. manufacturers backfired and led to job losses and higher prices, according to a Federal Reserve study released this week.  —  “We find that the 2018 tariffs …

Hunter Biden and pregnant wife spotted in LA amid paternity battle with former stripper  —  Here are the two people Joe Biden doesn't want you to see.  —  A bloated Hunter Biden — who along with his pregnant newlywed wife was left off dad Joe's family Christmas card this year …

On land, Australia's rising heat is ‘apocalyptic.’ In the ocean, it's worse.  —  BRUNY ISLAND, Tasmania — Even before the ocean caught fever and reached temperatures no one had ever seen, Australia's ancient giant kelp was cooked.  —  Rodney Dillon noticed the day he squeezed …

Mysterious drones spotted in 4 Colorado counties  —  WASHINGTON COUNTY, Colo. —Law enforcement officials in at least 4 Colorado counties are looking for the source of some mysterious drone sightings.  —  Sheriffs in Phillips, Lincoln, Yuma, and Washington Counties all confirm unusual sightings over the past week.

The Public Option Is Politically Superior to M4A — But Only As a Sound Bite  —  The vast majority of Americans believe that every U.S. citizen has a right to quality, affordable health care, and that it is the federal government's job to uphold that right.  —  But roughly 70 percent …

Mile high ugh: What you should know before you eat airplane food  —  Airline food caterers face limited oversight with infrequent inspections, numerous violations and few consequences.  —  Jason Alderman was hungry.  It was the beginning of his regular Sunday night commute from San Francisco to Boston …

Trump's quest to shatter GOP economics reached its culmination in 2019  —  President Trump shattered Republican orthodoxy on an extraordinary range of economic policies in 2019, setting up a more populist record for him to tout during a 2020 campaign in which Democrats already are accusing him of abandoning working people.

Pelosi “has the right” to submit Trump to an “involuntary evaluation”: Yale psychiatrist Bandy Lee  —  “I am beginning to believe that a mental health hold . . . will become inevitable,” Lee tells Salon in an interview  —  A Yale psychiatrist who has repeatedly sounded the alarm …

How the Military Lost Its Proper Place in the Constitutional Order  —  Looking to the country's generals to be a steadying force on a presidential administration is a sign that things have gone very wrong in the system the Framers devised.  —  Professor of law at Yeshiva University

U.S. judge denies bid to restore 98,000 purged Georgia voters  —  A federal judge on Friday denied an effort to restore 98,000 Georgia voters who were removed from the state's voter rolls this month because they haven't participated in elections for more than eight years.

The 2010s Were the End of Normal  —  TWO OF THE MOST WIDELY QUOTED and shared poems in the closing years of this decade were William Butler Yeats's “The Second Coming” ("Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold"), and W.H. Auden's “September 1, 1939” ("Waves of anger and fear / Circulate …

India's Muslims and activists face mass arrests, beatings amid unrest over citizenship law  —  LUCKNOW, India — When Sadaf Jafar headed out with hundreds of others on Dec. 19 to join a demonstration against India's contentious new citizenship law, she told her children she would be home that evening.