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.

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 …

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 …

Pelosi gets under Trump's skin on impeachment  —  President Trump has made attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a theme of his holiday break at his Mar-a-Lago resort.  —  Trump's comments suggest he is lingering on impeachment and that Pelosi's central role in it is very much on his mind going into 2020.

Trump's stock market rally is very good, but still lags Obama and Clinton  —  U.S. stocks are closing out a terrific year and President Trump loves it.  He's bragged about the stock market hitting record highs six times this week alone on Twitter.  —  On Friday, be boasted …

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 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 …

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.

Don Imus, Racist Radio Show Host, Dead At 79  —  Imus was fired from CBS in 2007 after he referred to members of the Rutgers women's basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”  —  Veteran radio broadcaster and known racist Don Imus died Friday.  He was 79.  —  Imus died in the morning …

Russia Deploys Hypersonic Weapon, Potentially Renewing Arms Race  —  The new Russian weapon system flies at superfast speeds and can evade traditional missile defense systems.  The United States is trying to catch up.  —  WASHINGTON — The Russian military on Friday said it had deployed …

NYPD Investigating 9th Anti-Semitic Attack Reported This Week  —  NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — New information was released Saturday morning about another anti-Semitic incident in Brooklyn.  —  It follows a series of anti-Semitic attacks this week and an increase in overall hate crimes around the city.

A Gangster in the White House  —  The president tweeted the name of the presumed whistleblower in the Ukraine scandal—demonstrating that he is unrepentant and determined to break the law again.  —  Staff writer at The Atlantic  —  Amid a two-day binge of post-Christmas rage-tweeting …

How the Military Lost Its Proper Place in the Constitutional Order  —  In his efforts to mask the seriousness of his actions around Russia and Ukraine, President Donald Trump has taken aim at one essential democratic institution after another—questioning the legitimacy of the press …

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.

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 …

How Ralph Northam came back from the political dead  —  THE HISTORY of U.S. politics is full of second chances — of scandal-scarred, disgraced and irredeemable public figures staging improbable comebacks — but few back-from-the-dead narratives have been as swift and sure-footed as the one Virginia …

Maddow Meltdown: In Defense To OAN Lawsuit, Host Argues Her Words Are Not Facts  —  Back in September, we reported that TV network OAN had filed a lawsuit against Rachel Maddow for the time the host said that OAN “really, literally is paid Russian propaganda.”