“If it Hadn't Been for the Prompt Work of the Medics”: FSB Officer Inadvertently Confesses Murder Plot to Navalny  — Bellingcat and its partners reported that Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) was implicated in the near-fatal nerve-agent poisoning of Alexey Navalny on 20 August 2020.

The ‘Red Slime’ Lawsuit That Could Sink Right-Wing Media  —  Voting machine companies threaten “highly dangerous” cases against Fox, Newsmax and OAN, says Floyd Abrams.  —  Antonio Mugica was in Boca Raton when an American presidential election really melted down in 2000 …

The Journalist and the Pharma Bro  —  Why did Christie Smythe upend her life and stability for Martin Shkreli, one of the least-liked men in the world?  —  Almost every weekday for six years, Christie Smythe took the F train from Park Slope downtown to her desk at Brooklyn's federal court …

White House secures ‘three martini lunch’ tax deduction in draft of coronavirus relief package  —  President Trump has long seized on the tax break as a way to revive the restaurant industry.  But economists have panned it as ineffective and largely benefitting the wealthy.

'I'm Haunted by What I Did' as a Lawyer in the Trump Justice Department  —  No matter our intentions, lawyers like me were complicit.  We owe the country our honesty about what we saw — and should do in the future.  —  Ms. Newland worked in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department from 2016-18.

Virginia Removes Confederate Statue from U.S. Capitol  —  Commission recently selected civil rights icon Barbara Johns to represent the Commonwealth with new statue  —  WASHINGTON, D.C.—Governor Ralph Northam today announced that Virginia's statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee …

Congress Strikes Long-Sought Stimulus Deal to Provide $900 Billion in Aid  —  Democrats and Republicans said they had an agreement on another round of pandemic aid, including direct payments to Americans, jobless benefits and funds for businesses and vaccine distribution.

Trump campaign takes fight over Penn. election, ballot laws to Supreme Court  —  President Trump still refuses to concede the outcome and continues to promote allegations that there was massive voter fraud.  —  Trump still rips ‘stolen’ election  —  President Trump's campaign team …

NYC restaurants band together to ban Andrew Cuomo from dining in their establishments  —  A group of New York City restaurants has joined together to ban Gov. Andrew Cuomo from dining at their establishments in reaction to his lockdown policies.  —  “He can eat at some sh—

‘A real mess’: Trump is leaving behind crises and undermining Biden before he takes office  —  When President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office on Jan. 20, the list of crises he will face includes a massive cyber intrusion, a still-raging global pandemic, a slowing economic recovery …

Trump plots martial law from White House — the press shrugs  —  The Normalizing Olympics … In a West Wing meeting that would seem more fitting for a nation with a long history of authoritarian rule, Trump recently met with deranged, conspiracy-peddling advisers and discussed the possibility …

Pollsters disappear in Georgia with Senate on the line  —  Something's missing from Georgia's high-stakes Senate runoffs: the polls.  —  After a disastrous November election for the polling industry, when the polls again underestimated President Donald Trump (who lost regardless) …

Engaging With Trump's Die-Hard Supporters Isn't Productive  —  The loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories should be deprived of the attention they seek.  —  Author of The Death of Expertise  —  President-elect Joe Biden made national unity a centerpiece of his campaign …

Gov. Cuomo: UK's COVID-19 mutation ‘is on a plane to JFK’ without testing  —  Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday called it “reprehensible” and “grossly negligent” to allow UK travelers to fly into JFK Airport without being tested despite a contagious new mutation of the coronavirus shutting down London.

Ex-cop hits truck thinking it held 750,000 fraudulent ballots, police say.  It held air conditioning parts.  —  David Lopez-Zuniga, an air-conditioner installer, had just left his mobile home for his typical predawn commute when he noticed an SUV's headlights closely trailing his small cargo truck.

Amid a crisis like 'we've never seen,' Biden drives to fill Cabinet  —  It was April of 2009 when then-Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius received a phone call from the Obama White House.  A plane was on its way to bring her to Washington to be sworn in as the Health and Human Services secretary.

Live updates: Biden to get coronavirus vaccine; Harris, Ivanka Trump to campaign in Georgia for Senate candidates  —  President-elect Joe Biden and future first lady Jill Biden will receive the coronavirus vaccine in public Monday in an effort to show the nation the safety of the vaccine.

Big Tech's stealth push to influence the Biden administration  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Silicon Valley is working behind the scenes to secure senior roles for tech allies in lesser-known but still vital parts of president-elect Joe Biden's administration, even as the pushback against Big Tech …

Personality, Not Policy, Will Determine Top House Armed Services Republican  —  The pick may telegraph whether the GOP intends a cooperative or combative approach to the Biden administration.  —  The race to replace retiring Rep. Mac Thornberry, Texas, as the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, is heating up.

A frustrated Trump redoubles efforts to overturn election result  —  President Trump has intensified efforts to overturn the election, raising a series of radical measures in recent days, including military intervention, seizing voting machines and a 13th-hour appeal to the Supreme Court.

Journalists Hacked with Suspected NSO Group iMessage ‘Zero-Click’ Exploit  —  Summary & Key Findings  — In July and August 2020, government operatives used NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to hack 36 personal phones belonging to journalists, producers, anchors, and executives at Al Jazeera.

The Trade: Meet the New Red Dog Democrats  —  The two parties have traded voters—whether the old political class likes it or not.  —  In 2013 my beloved Denver Nuggets traded Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov …