GSA official blocking Biden's transition appears to privately plan post-Trump career  —  Emily Murphy has the power to decide when a transfer of power begins.  —  Obama sounds alarm in new interview as Trump digs in  —  The president still has not conceded defeat despite Joe Biden winning …

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine found to be nearly 95 percent effective in a preliminary analysis  —  The United States could have two coronavirus vaccines available on a limited basis by year's end  —  Biotechnology firm Moderna announced Monday that a preliminary analysis shows …

Why Obama Fears for Our Democracy  —  Barack Obama was describing to me the manner in which the Mongol emperor and war-crimes innovator Genghis Khan would besiege a town.  “They gave you two choices,” he said.  “'If you open the gates, we'll just kill you quickly and take your women and enslave …

Madison Cawthorn has tried to convert Jews to Christianity  —  (JTA) — Madison Cawthorn, the newly elected congressman from North Carolina who was criticized for selfies he took at Hitler's vacation retreat in Germany, is a zealous Christian.  And the 25-year-old firebrand conservative …

Lawsuits that tried to disrupt Biden's wins in four states are withdrawn  —  (CNN)Voters in four states who had brought longshot lawsuits to disrupt President-elect Joe Biden's win and went nowhere in court have dropped their cases Monday morning.  —  The cases were short-lived in Georgia …

Georgia Republicans Worry Trump Feud Could Hurt Key Senate Runoffs  —  Trump's Twitter attacks on state GOP leaders over recount of presidential race risks eroding party unity  —  ATLANTA—The Georgia Republican Party is beset with infighting, as leading Republicans in the state come under public attack …

The Republican Party Is Dead.  It's the Trump Cult Now.  —  Donald Trump is the past, present, and future of the Republican Party.  And that is because the GOP is no longer a traditional political party designed to win elections so that it can enact a policy agenda.  It is a personality cult built around grievance.

Trump aide promises ‘very professional transition’ to Biden  —  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump's national security adviser promised a “very professional transition” to the administration of President-elect Joe Biden in an interview broadcast Monday …

US military anticipates Trump will issue order to plan for further troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq  —  (CNN)US military commanders are anticipating that a formal order will be given by President Donald Trump as soon as this week to begin a further withdrawal of US troops …

Why Joe Biden Must Sideline Fox  —  In January of 2007, I had an out-of-body experience.  No, it wasn't during an ayahuasca retreat with a kindly shaman.  Instead, I was floating above my cubicle in the Hart Senate Office building where I worked as a spokesman for then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).

Sen. Lankford Says He's ‘Not in a Hurry’ to Allow Intelligence Briefings for Biden  —  After saying he would step in if President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris still weren't receiving detailed intelligence briefings Friday, Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.) …

Trump tweets words ‘he won’; says vote rigged, not conceding  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump worked to take back an apparent acknowledgment that Joe Biden won the White House and was making clear he would keep trying to overturn the election result.

Hate crimes in US reach highest level in more than a decade  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Hate crimes in the U.S. rose to the highest level in more than a decade as federal officials also recorded the highest number of hate-motivated killings since the FBI began collecting that data in the early 1990s …

Northam: ‘We are going to move forward with legalizing marijuana in Virginia’  —  Gov. Ralph Northam said Monday he plans to introduce legislation legalizing marijuana when the General Assembly convenes in January, setting the state on a path to become the first in the South to allow recreational use of the drug.

Liberals Envisioned a Multiracial Coalition.  Voters of Color Had Other Ideas.  —  Democrats may need to rethink their strategy as the class complexities and competing desires of Latino and Asian-American demographic groups become clear.  —  The proposition seemed tailor-made for one of the nation's most diverse and liberal states.

Trump officials rush to auction off rights to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Biden can block it  —  Officials aim to sell drilling rights to the pristine wilderness's coastal plain before Joe Biden takes office  —  The Trump administration has called for oil and gas firms …

Ossoff, Warnock start Georgia runoffs behind the eight ball  —  CUMMING, Ga. — Joe Biden turned Georgia blue.  Compared to what they're up against now, that was the easy part for Democrats.  —  To repeat Biden's feat in a pair of Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, with control of the Senate on the line …

Top Trump coronavirus adviser tells Michigan to “rise up” against new restrictions  —  Washington — Dr. Scott Atlas, a close adviser to President Trump on the coronavirus pandemic, encouraged Michigan residents to “rise up” after Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced more stringent restrictions …

Pro-Trump Wisconsin Lawyers Spike Election Lawsuit on Morning of Court Hearing  —  When filing their federal lawsuit in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Republican lawyers hoping to block certification of the vote in a state that outgoing President Donald Trump lost wrote in their complaint that “evidence will be shortly forthcoming.”

Biden's IRS could finally give Trump's tax returns to Democrats  —  President Donald Trump's defeat will make it a lot easier for Democrats to finally get his tax returns, and some prominent lawmakers plan to keep the heat on the incoming Biden administration and House leaders to deliver.

Trump lawyer complains of harassing call from attorney at opposing firm  —  A lawyer spearheading the efforts by President Donald Trump's campaign to dispute the election results in Pennsylvania complained to a federal court Sunday that she received an abusive telephone message from an attorney …

Was It Worth It, Jared and Ivanka?  —  The glossiest grifters become Vuitton vagabonds.  —  Just five short years ago Jared and Ivanka were dinner-party royalty here in Manhattan.  It's that kind of place.  They had money, they had youth, they had celebrity.  They were thin.

Republicans Have Good Reason Not To Trust The Election Results  —  And it's not because they're stupid, traitorous Nazis.  —  To read reports in the mainstream press about the throngs of President Trump's supporters who rallied in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, you'd think the crowd …

The Substackerati  —  Did a newsletter company create a more equitable media system—or replicate the flaws of the old one?  —  The first week of March, Patrice Peck, a freelance journalist living in New York, started sanitizing everything.  She went to Nitehawk, a dine-in movie theater …