Exclusive: Unredacted Ukraine Documents Reveal Extent of Pentagon's Legal Concerns  —  “Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold.”  —  This is what Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), told Elaine McCusker …

Yes, Bernie Sanders Could Be the Nominee—and It Would Be an Epic Nightmare for Democrats  —  Far from fading away, the Vermont socialist is gaining some steam.  Democrats better come to their senses.  Trump and the Republicans would crush him.  —  BEAST INSIDE

A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden signals what's coming  —  If you thought the 2016 election was awash in disinformation and lies, get ready: The 2020 election is going to make that affair look like a knitting session.  —  A video that was edited in a monumentally dishonest fashion …

Julián Castro Ends Presidential Run: 'It Simply Isn't Our Time'  —  Mr. Castro, the former housing secretary and mayor of San Antonio, was the only Latino candidate in the race.  He championed progressive policies but did not find his footing in polls.

I Was Google's Head of International Relations.  Here's Why I Left.  —  The company's motto used to be “Don't be evil.”  Things have changed.  —  When I walked out the door on my last day as Google's Head of International Relations, I couldn't help but think of my first day at the company.

POLITICO Playbook: Why holding the impeachment articles might not matter  —  HAPPY NEW YEAR, and thanks to Blake for filling in the last few days.  Welcome to an election year.  —  HERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What if it doesn't matter if Speaker NANCY PELOSI sends over the impeachment articles?

Democrat Marianne Williamson lays off campaign staff nationally, including NH  —  Financial issues force spiritual author, lecturer to drastically scale back her unorthodox presidential campaign  —  MANCHESTER, N.H. —  Marianne Williamson, who has been campaigning …

Hillary Clinton appointed chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast  —  Hillary Clinton is to be the new chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast (QUB).  —  She is the university's 11th chancellor and first woman to take up the post.  —  In a statement, Mrs Clinton said it was a “great privilege” to become the chancellor of QUB.

Trump Covering Up Scheme to Use Justice Department to Punish CNN  —  President Trump has made two major attempts (so far) to use his power to intimidate and control independent media.  The second attempt was his intervention to deny Amazon a $10 billion Pentagon contract as retribution against the Washington Post.

Amazon threatens to fire critics who are outspoken on its environmental policies  —  SEATTLE - Amazon has warned at least two employees who publicly criticized the company's environmental policies that they could be fired for future violations of its communications policy.

Bill Taylor departs post as top US diplomat in Ukraine  —  Hear what Bill Taylor said to the House during impeachment  —  Washington (CNN)Bill Taylor, who led the US embassy in Ukraine and served as a key witness in the House impeachment inquiry, has departed his post.

It's 2020 and you're in the future  —  It's finally the 2020s.  After 20 years of not being able to refer to the decade we're in, we're all finally free—in the clear for the next 80 years until 2100, at which point I assume AGI will have figured out what to call the two decades between 2100 and 2120.

Erdogan Prepares a New Military Intervention, This Time in Libya  —  As his standing flags at home, Turkey's president has pursued an assertive foreign policy to stoke nationalism and rally supporters.  —  ISTANBUL — Expanding his footprint in a volatile region, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan …

Liz Crokin Predicts That Tom Hanks Will Soon Be Arrested for Involvement in Occult Pedophilia  —  Last year, right-wing “journalist” and Trump-worshiping conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin publicly declared that if the mass arrests long promised by those promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory …

Anti-Semitism Grows in Jewish Communities in NYC Suburbs  —  The expansion of Hasidic communities in New York's Hudson Valley, the Catskills and northern New Jersey has led to some anti-semitic rhetoric  —  What to Know  — With the expansion of Orthodox communities outside NYC has come civic sparring …

‘Two hands are a lot’ — we're hiring data scientists, project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos...  'This is possibly the single largest design flaw contributing to the bad Nash equilibrium in which ... many governments are stuck.  Every individual high-functioning competent person knows …

Joe Biden's Senate Papers Will Remain Locked Up For 2020  —  The University of Delaware won't release them until two years after Biden retires from “public life.”  —  Joe Biden's papers from his Senate days could have gone online on Dec. 31.  But they didn't.

When Donald Trump Brags About the Economy, Here's What Democrats Should Say  —  Yes, the economic indicators are all good.  But that doesn't mean people living on $50,000 are feeling secure.  —  Donald Trump loves to pat himself on the back for, as he puts it, the “greatest economy we've had in the history of our country.”

Bloomberg fails to file for Nevada Democratic caucuses  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada Democrats will not be able to caucus for Michael Bloomberg next month.  —  The former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate failed to file with the Nevada State Democratic Party by a Jan. 1 deadline …

Conservatives seek immediate purge of voters in Wisconsin  —  FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2018 file photo, people vote at Jamestown Town Hall in Kieler, Wis. Conservatives are asking a judge to find the Wisconsin Elections Commission in contempt for not immediately purging more than 200,000 voters from the rolls.

Australia's prime minister visited families devastated by the wildfires.  It did not go well.  —  The fire mercilessly tore through Cobargo, a small town near the coast in southern New South Wales, on Monday night, burning down the main street and killing two people, a father and son, caught in its destructive path.

Power, precarity and white-hot anger: what I learned in a decade in journalism  —  You won't make much money, your best stories will be forgotten, and you'll be doomed to constant disappointment and despair.  I recommend it highly  —  As the decade of the 2010s began …

Tulsi Gabbard draws crowd while surfing in New Hampshire  —  Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) drew a crowd in Hampton, N.H. on Wednesday as she joined a group of surfers in the frigid Atlantic Ocean.  —  The avid surfer and 2020 candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination told reporters …