Louisiana Congressman-elect Luke Letlow dies with COVID  —  Louisiana Congressman-elect Luke Letlow has died at Ochsner LSU Health in Shreveport with COVID-19, a family friend confirmed Tuesday night.  —  Letlow, 41, was transferred from St. Francis Medical Center to the Ochsner LSU Health ICU …

Ted Cruz's Georgia Runoff Fundraising Is Actually Going to His Campaign.  He's Not Alone  —  The runoff is a gold mine for politicians.  And now that they can run Facebook ads in Georgia, they're rushing for it.  —  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) needs your help to keep the U.S. Senate in Republican hands.

Girlfriend warned Nashville police Anthony Warner was building bomb a year ago, report shows  —  NASHVILLE — Sixteen months before Anthony Quinn Warner's RV exploded in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning, officers visited his home in Antioch after his girlfriend reported that he was making bombs …

Sen. Hawley announces he will contest certification of electoral college vote  —  Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced Wednesday that he would object next week when Congress convenes to certify the electoral college vote, a move that all but ensures at least a short delay in cementing President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

No fraud: Georgia audit confirms authenticity of absentee ballots  —  Law enforcement and election investigators didn't find a single fraudulent absentee ballot during an audit of over 15,000 voter signatures, according to a report by the Georgia secretary of state's office released Tuesday.

Hilaria Baldwin Talks Spain, Boston, Alec and Instagram  —  Accused of a “decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person,” the entrepreneur (and spouse of Alec Baldwin) talks about being the main character in this last week of 2020.  —  The first signs that Hilaria Baldwin's life …

Biden to tap longtime officials for top Pentagon roles  —  President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate two former senior officials to fill the Pentagon's No. 2 and No. 3 jobs, transition officials said, further signaling the new administration's intent to forge a more predictable foreign policy …

Covid-19 Vaccine Made by AstraZeneca, Oxford Is Authorized by U.K.  —  Green light for emergency use comes as Britain grapples with a surge in cases and a new variant  —  LONDON—The U.K. authorized a Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca PLC …

N.Y. prosecutor hires forensic accounting experts as Trump criminal probe escalates  —  NEW YORK — The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has retained forensic accounting specialists to aid its criminal investigation of President Trump and his business operations, as prosecutors ramp …

US bomber mission over Persian Gulf aimed at cautioning Iran  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States flew strategic bombers over the Persian Gulf on Wednesday for the second time this month, a show of force meant to deter Iran from attacking American or allied targets in the Middle East.

The Cruise Ship Suicides  —  Confined mostly to tiny cabins as the pandemic unfolded, crew members struggled to cope.  —  At first, Jozsef Szaller's crewmates didn't think much of his absence.  Szaller, after all, usually skipped going to dinner on the Carnival Breeze …

CNN's Don Lemon, PBS' Yamiche Alcindor and NBC's Chuck Todd to Guest Author Politico's Playbook (Exclusive)  —  Politico is turning to high-profile journalists, including Recode co-founder Kara Swisher and Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Eliana Johnson, to helm Playbook until a new team starts later in January.

Trump's big policy win: Stronger showers, faster dishwashers.  It's something almost no one asked for.  —  One change he talked about frequently won't happen: A reversal of water limits on toilet flushes  —  President Trump was on a roll, standing before an adoring crowd in Carson City …

Even If It's ‘Bonkers,’ Poll Finds Many Believe QAnon And Other Conspiracy Theories  —  Toggle more options  —  A significant number of Americans believe misinformation about the origins of the coronavirus and the recent presidential election, as well as conspiracy theories like QAnon, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll.

GOP seeks to roll back mail-in voting in states like Georgia and Pennsylvania that Trump lost  —  WASHINGTON - As President Donald Trump continues to level baseless claims of voter fraud almost two months after his Nov. 3 election loss, Republican lawmakers in states Trump contested are pushing …

Proud Boys Are at War With Their Female Extremist Wing  —  A transphobic MMA fighter has announced herself to be the “Den Mother” of the Proud Girls, but some members of the extremist, misogynistic Proud Boys don't want her in the ranks.  —  BEAST INSIDE  —  When Donald Trump tweeted …

2020 Man of the Year: MAGA Matt Yglesias  —  You know how it goes: You oppose defunding the cops, and a million rose emojis scream at you for hours.  You sign a letter tepidly endorsing free speech, and your colleagues denounce you to your bosses and Twitter.

The Trümperdämmerung Is a Fitting End to 2020  —  As the awful year of 2020 and the awful tenure of Donald Trump both come to an end, the President has partied with the unmasked in Palm Beach and taken credit for a vaccine against a virus that he once counselled could be beaten with bleach.

US hits record for daily Covid-19 deaths.  Winter will be ‘awful’ before we see ‘some light,’ expert says  —  Nurse uses social media to warn public about Covid-19  —  (CNN)The US set two more devastating Covid-19 records as it counted down the hours to the end of what has been a calamitous year for the nation.

Trump pardon of Blackwater Iraq contractors violates international law - UN  —  GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's pardon of four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007 violated U.S. obligations under international law, U.N. human rights experts said on Wednesday.

Why the Nashville explosion is confounding terrorism experts  —  Christmas Day explosion in Nashville, Tennessee, is puzzling even for terrorism commentators and scholars.  It employed many familiar features of terrorist attacks in modern history, but the particular combination was unprecedented, raising interesting questions about the

Dr. Fauci lied about coronavirus to manipulate our behavior — that's appalling  —  Placing blind faith in unelected celebrity scientists has its limits, and we must not be afraid to call them out  —  Fauci under fire for moving herd immunity goalposts  —  Thanks to our news media's …