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 Vaccine Found Highly Effective at Preventing Covid  — Vaccine has 94.5% efficacy in an analysis of late-stage trial  — Interim results suggest vaccine may also block severe cases  —  Moderna Inc. said its Covid-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in a preliminary analysis …

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 …

Georgia's GOP Secretary of State Unloads on Trump's Election Lies  —  The GOP in-fighting over the election results and recount have gotten really nasty.  —  Georgia's Republican secretary of state has had enough of President Trump's lies about voting integrity.

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 …

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 …

Lawsuits that tried to disrupt Biden's wins in four states are withdrawn  —  (CNN)Voters in four states who had brought longshot lawsuits to disrupt President-elect Joe Biden's win and went nowhere in court have dropped their cases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

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 …

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.

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).

A third GOP senator comes out against Trump's Fed nominee, putting confirmation vote on knife's edge  —  Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee joins two other Republicans in opposing Judy Shelton's nomination  —  Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Monday said he would not support the nomination …

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.

Rep. Ben McAdams is conceding to Burgess Owens in close 4th District race  —  SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's only Democrat in Congress, Rep. Ben McAdams, is conceding Monday to Republican Burgess Owens, a former NFL player, author and frequent Fox News guest making his first run for public office …

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 …

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 …

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.”

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.

Legal Trailblazer Drew Days Dies  —  Drew Saunders Days III, a leading civil-rights attorney and former U.S. solicitor general who also broke barriers at home in New Haven, died Sunday at the age of 79.  —  The cause of death was complications from dementia, according to Janet Conroy …

Trump fights to keep a job he shows no interest in performing  —  Imagine if, in November 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had decided to check out of World War II because it wasn't going as well as he had hoped.  Imagine if he had secluded himself in the Oval Office, listening to the radio all day …

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 …

Congressman Biggs Requests 100% Audit of Maricopa County, Arizona Ballots  —  GILBERT, ARIZONA - Last week, Congressman Andy Biggs, along with Congressman Paul Gosar (AZ-04) and Congressman David Schweikert (AZ-06), sent a letter to the members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors …

A former right-wing media creator on how a ‘different reality’ became so prominent.  —  Matthew Sheffield started his first conservative website in 2000, dedicating it to criticizing the former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who Mr. Sheffield believed was a partisan liberal and not critical enough …

Transcript: NPR's Full Interview With Former President Barack Obama  —  Michel Martin: So thank you for having us.  Thank you for receiving us here at your office, which is amazing.  —  Former President Barack Obama: It's wonderful to have you.  —  Have you developed any interesting COVID habits?

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 …