“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.

Undercutting Trump, Barr says there's no basis for seizing voting machines, using special counsels for election fraud, Hunter Biden  —  Outgoing Attorney General William P. Barr said Monday he saw no basis for the federal government seizing voting machines and that he did not intend to appoint …

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 …

Engaging With Trump's Die-Hard Supporters Isn't Productive  —  President-elect Joe Biden made national unity a centerpiece of his campaign, and no patriotic American who wants to repair the damage of the Donald Trump years can argue with such a noble call.  The election is over …

Trump Sets ‘Beautiful’ as the New Standard for Federal Buildings  — Executive action makes classical style default in Washington  — Order stops short of fully banning modernist architecture  —  President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday making classical architecture …

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 …

Trump administration weighing legal immunity for Saudi crown prince accused in assassination plot  —  The U.S. government is weighing a request to declare Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman immune from a federal lawsuit accusing him of targeting for assassination a former top intelligence officer …

Trump Is Already Wondering What Airport Will Bear His Name  —  The president has been asking aides and advisers what the process is for getting an airport named after him—another sign his mind is drifting to a post-presidency.  —  In the dying days of his presidency, Donald Trump has taken …

Americans will get stimulus checks as soon as next week, Mnuchin says  — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Americans could see stimulus checks hit their bank accounts in a matter of days.  — Mnuchin's comments came hours before Congress is expected to pass a new, $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill.

Where Immigrant Neighborhoods Swung Right in the Election  —  Across the United States, many areas with large populations of Latinos and residents of Asian descent, including ones with the highest numbers of immigrants, had something in common this election: a surge in turnout and a shift to the right, often a sizable one.

Hundreds partied at Mar-a-Lago with Turning Point  —  President profited as sold out, $2,000/person reception and dinner flouting COVID guidance  —  Turning Point USA held a sold-out $2,000/person gala at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night.  Based on photos posted to Instagram …

Mutant coronavirus in the United Kingdom sets off alarms, but its importance remains unclear  —  Science's COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation.  —  On 8 December, during a regular Tuesday meeting about the spread of the pandemic coronavirus …

US Embassy courtyard named in Jared Kushner's honor  —  Kushner, along with a visiting US delegation stopped in the embassy in the afternoon for a small ceremony with US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.  —  The courtyard of the US Embassy in Jerusalem was named Monday in honor …

Appeals court rejects Georgia absentee ballot signature lawsuit  —  The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a Republican Party effort to reject more absentee ballots in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoffs by changing how election officials check absentee ballot signatures.

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 …

Republicans desperate to avoid floor fight over Electoral College vote  —  National Republicans are desperate to avoid a floor fight in Congress over the certification of the Electoral College vote next month, believing it would be horrible politics to continue waging what most recognize …

‘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 …

The Rule of Law & Due Process in Virginia  —  Why would a former Governor not afford the current Lt. Governor the time-honored jurisprudistic tenet of innocence until PROVEN guilty?  —  Terry McAuliffe endlessly touts as his main accomplishment the restoration of voting rights.

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.

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 …

Biden Adds New Members to His White House Economic Team  —  President-elect hires David Kamin, a former Obama administration budget official, and Bharat Ramamurti, a longtime aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren  —  WASHINGTON—President-elect Joe Biden is rounding out his economic team …

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 …