MAGA turns on Mitch: Trump allies including Michael Flynn slam the GOP Senate majority leader for ‘caving to the mob and China’ for recognizing Biden as president-elect  — Trump loyalists were furious after McConnell congratulated Biden on Tuesday  — Top allies accused Senate majority leader of selling out the party's leader

MacKenzie Scott Gives Away $4.2 Billion in Four Months  — World's 18th-richest person announced contributions on Medium  — Scott's total gifts this year are close to $6 billion  —  MacKenzie Scott is giving away her fortune at an unprecedented pace, donating more than $4 billion …

Alleged crusade to stop voter fraud lands former HPD captain in handcuffs  —  HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A former Houston Police Department Captain was arrested and charged for running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an attempt to prove claims of a massive voter fraud scheme …

DeVos urges career staff to ‘be the resistance’ as Biden takes over  —  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged career employees at the Education Department on Tuesday to “be the resistance” when the Biden administration comes into power next month, according to a recording of her remarks obtained by POLITICO.

Trump asking about special prosecutor for Hunter Biden  —  Washington (AP) — President Donald Trump is considering pushing to have a special counsel appointed to advance a federal tax investigation into the son of President-elect Joe Biden, setting up a potential showdown with incoming acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen.

Hundreds of invitees skip Mike Pompeo's indoor holiday party at State Department  —  Only a tiny fraction of the more than 900 guests invited to an indoor holiday party hosted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan showed up on Tuesday following an outcry from public health officials …

Mayor Warshaw resigns effective immediately  —  On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Dodge City Mayor Joyce Warshaw officially resigned from her position effective immediately.  —  “I understand people are under a lot of pressure from various things that are happening around society like the pandemic …

The U.S. government spent billions on a system for detecting hacks.  The Russians outsmarted it.  —  When Russian hackers first slipped their digital Trojan horses into federal government computer systems, probably sometime in the spring, they sat dormant for days, doing nothing but hiding.

Mar-a-Lago neighbors to Trump: Spend your post-presidency elsewhere  —  Next-door neighbors of Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Fla., that he has called his Winter White House, have a message for the outgoing commander in chief: We don't want you to be our neighbor.

Longtime GOP strategist Steve Schmidt announces he's registering Democrat  —  Longtime GOP strategist Steve Schmidt announced that he is registering as a Democrat after nearly 30 years with the Republican Party.  —  Schmidt made the announcement during an episode of the “Battleground” …

Biden considering Republicans for Commerce secretary  —  President-elect Joe Biden is considering some well-known Republicans — think Meg Whitman types — for Commerce secretary as a way to signal to red-state Americans he understands their concerns and plans to address them.

A mysterious gap in COVID-19 deaths appeared in Florida before the presidential election  —  An astonishing pattern has emerged in Florida's COVID death tally — one that suggests the state manipulated a backlog of unrecorded fatalities, presenting more favorable death counts in the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election.

San Francisco to rename Abraham Lincoln High School because former president did not demonstrate that ‘black lives mattered to him’ - as woke renaming committee also takes aim at Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein and Teddy Roosevelt  — San Francisco Unified School District's renaming …

‘Like a Hand Grasping’: Trump Appointees Describe the Crushing of the C.D.C.  —  Kyle McGowan, a former chief of staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his deputy, Amanda Campbell, go public on the Trump administration's manipulation of the agency.

Giving Trump credit for the vaccine is the best way for Biden to unite the country  —  Joe Biden promised in his victory speech to “unite us here at home” and told Trump supporters that he wanted to “put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature [and] see each other again.”

Ron Johnson gambles his political future on Trump  —  President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Ron Johnson addresses the crowd during a campaign rally on Oct. 17, 2020, in Janesville, Wis.  —  Ron Johnson is linking himself to President Donald Trump's election challenge as tightly as possible …

How 2020 Shattered Shared Reality  —  Twenty years ago, the sociologist Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone used the decline of bowling leagues since the middle of the 20th century to symbolize America's declining social engagement.  This year, he published a sequel of sorts, The Upswing …

17 theses on Pete Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation  —  Emergency blog post!  —  3 hr ago  —  Trying something new, an emergency out-of-schedule post on Pete Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation!  — I love transportation policy and know a fair amount about it.

UM Fires History Professor Who Criticizes ‘Powerful, Racist Donors’ and ‘Carceral State’  —  During a period of what University of Mississippi faculty are calling a time of increasing paranoia, the university is set to terminate a celebrated professor of history.

Children Love Snow Days.  The Pandemic May End Them Forever.  —  In New York City and elsewhere, classes will be held online no matter how bad storms are this year in a shift that makes some parents wistful.  —  “Snow day.”  These two words have charmed New York children for generations …

Joe Biden should beware liberal identity politics  —  Winning back white blue collar votes is a less fraught route to victory  —  There is a fine line between championing diversity and embracing identity politics.  In practice, it should be a bright red one.

How Qanon's lies are hijacking the national conversation  —  How Trump is fueling the alarming growth of QAnon  —  (CNN)It started with a Tweet from a QAnon supporter at 2:09 in the morning: #SubpoenaObama.  —  Though devoid of context, the cryptic message made sense to anyone in tune …

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's book ‘Persist’ to come out in April  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a book coming out about six key experiences and perspectives.  The title should be familiar to those who have followed the Massachusetts Democrat's career: “Persist.”

California orders thousands of body bags as Covid death toll grows … California has purchased thousands of body bags and has dozens of refrigerated storage units on standby as it prepares to deal with a growing death toll from Covid-19.  —  The orders for 5,000 body bags …

Biden picks former EPA chief Gina McCarthy as White House climate czar  —  McCarthy heads the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has sued the Trump administration more than 100 times.  —  President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Gina McCarthy, who ran the Environmental Protection Agency …