Justice Dept. won't charge Andrew McCabe, the former FBI official who authorized the investigation of President Trump  —  The Justice Department will not bring charges against former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe for lying to investigators about a media disclosure, according to people familiar …

Bernie Sanders leaps to first among Texas Democrats in latest UT/TT Poll  —  Sanders now leads the Democratic presidential candidates among Texas voters, but Donald Trump maintains a slight lead over each of the top Democrats in the race, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

New front-runner?  Mike Bloomberg edges out Joe Biden in new Florida survey  —  A shocking St. Pete Polls survey late last month has Mike Bloomberg surging to second in the Florida presidential primary.  The newest version from the same outfit, released Friday, shows Bloomberg …

Boris Johnson has cancelled his planned trip to the White House after Trump slammed the phone down on him in a moment of ‘apoplectic’ fury  — UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cancelled his planned trip to meet Donald Trump next month after a furious row between the two men.

Official says US, Taliban reach truce Afghan truce agreement  —  MUNICH (AP) — A senior U.S.official said Friday the United States and the Taliban have reached a truce agreement that will take effect “very soon” and could lead to withdrawals of American troops from Afghanistan.

Democrats are wasting time fighting over policies the Senate will never pass  —  It was a sight to behold: a former vice president, two senators and a former mayor on a stage in New Hampshire a week ago, arguing over the impossible.  Would Sen. Bernie Sanders deliver Medicare-for-all immediately, as he promised to do?

An Unrestrained Trump May End Up Trapping Himself  —  The Senate pushes back on war powers and a Fed nominee, while a White House purge might undercut the president's clout.  —  I'm not sure what the conventional wisdom is about the current health of Donald Trump's presidency …

U.S. Readied Sanctions on Russian Oligarch's Associates—Then Mysteriously Backed Off  —  “Somebody overruled [Treasury], essentially,” one sanctions expert said.  “That's the most likely scenario.”  —  Something strange happened in mid-December involving Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch.

How Many People Might One Person With Coronavirus Infect?  —  Researchers in U.K. offer clues as to how contagious Covid-19 virus could be  —  When an infection erupts the way coronavirus has exploded in Wuhan, China, and elsewhere in the world, public-health experts try to gauge the potential …

A President So Unhinged That Even Bill Barr Says He's Out of Control  —  Welcome to the post-acquittal Trump Presidency.  —  President Trump is not moving on.  He is not getting over it.  In the eight days since his acquittal by the Republican-controlled Senate, Trump has shown all too clearly …

Facebook reverses on paid political messages that aren't ads  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook decided Friday to allow a type of paid political message that had sidestepped many of the social network's rules governing political ads, in a reversal that highlights difficulties tech companies …

Civic Religion and the Secular Jew  —  IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE Bernie Sanders's inauguration.  Not because it's difficult to believe that Sanders could win the presidency—that seems more plausible than ever.  But in the sense that it's hard to envision what the ceremony would look like.

U.S. population will decline faster without steady immigration, Census report says  —  Limiting immigration over the next four decades would do little to stop the racial diversification of the United States — but it could push the country into a population decline, according to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau.

General John Kelly, Trump Stooge, Is No Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, Patriot  —  Vindman saw something, and said something.  Kelly saw plenty, and kept it to himself for more than two years.  —  BEAST INSIDE  —  John Kelly's half-assed, just-the-tip critique of Donald Trump …

She pushed Trump to exit the Paris climate agreement and roll back environmental rules.  And she's returning to EPA as chief of staff.  —  One of EPA's first Trump appointees, Mandy Gunasekara has run a ‘pro-Trump nonprofit’ since leaving the agency a year ago.

Culinary Union officials face profanity-laced attacks after scorecard says Sanders would ‘end’ their health care  —  Geoconda Arguello-Kline, left, secretary-treasurer for the Culinary Union announced that the culinary will not endorse a Democratic presidential candidate in the primary.

MIT: Hackers could alter ballots in widely used voting app  —  CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An internet voting app that has been used in pilots in West Virginia, Denver, Oregon and Utah has vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to change a person's vote without detection …

White House ‘1264 Notice’ and Novel Legal Claims for Military Action Against Iran  —  To its credit, the Trump administration has submitted a newly released notice to Congress, describing the legal and policy basis for the Jan. 2 airstrike against Qassem Soleimani, Iran's top military commander.

Women's wear mogul Peter Nygard accused as vile sexual predator, hosted ‘pamper parties’ to rape and abuse aspiring models and underage girls, according to Manhattan lawsuit  —  Rags-to-riches garment business legend Peter Nygard was accused of sex trafficking paid underage “girlfriends” …

The Irrelevance of Marco Rubio  —  He used to be the future of the Republican party.  Now he's desperately hunting for new principles.  —  Marco Rubio is our great republic's most overrated senator—which is really saying something, since pretty much everyone in America, left, right, and center, thinks he's a joke.