As world focuses on omicron, delta variant overwhelms parts of U.S.  —  While the U.S. braces for the unknowns of omicron, which has now been detected in Minnesota, St. Cloud Hospital in the central part of the state is still deep in a battle with the delta variant of the coronavirus.

John Kennedy Tells Biden Nominee Dale Ho He's Too ‘Angry’ To Be A Federal Judge  —  “We don't need federal judges who are angry,” said the GOP senator, who voted to put angry guy Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.  —  Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told President Joe Biden's judicial nominee Dale Ho …

McConnell: No legislative agenda for 2022 midterms  —  Mitch McConnell has told colleagues and donors Senate Republicans won't release a legislative agenda before next year's midterms, according to people who've attended private meetings with the minority leader.

Exclusive: Sinema won't commit to voting for Biden's sweeping social safety net expansion  —  (CNN)Kyrsten Sinema, the influential moderate Democratic senator from Arizona, did not commit to voting for President Joe Biden's sweeping social safety net legislation in a sit-down interview with CNN on Thursday …

Meadows' book possible ‘waiver’ of executive privilege, Jan. 6 investigators say  —  Jan. 6 investigators have tried to pry information from Mark Meadows for months.  Now, excerpts from his forthcoming book have piqued the select committee's interest.  —  In interviews, members of the committee …

Why a Pollster is Warning Democrats About the 2022 Midterm Elections  —  Focus groups with Virginia voters led to a bluntly worded memo on what Democrats need to do going into the midterms.  —  Brian Stryker, a Democratic pollster, didn't work for Terry McAuliffe's campaign in the Virginia governor's race.

A CIA Report Shows Trump Abandoned His Duty as Commander in Chief  —  The CIA is too polite to say this directly, but it has issued a report that shows that Donald Trump, while obsessing over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, abandoned one of his primary duties as president …

U.S. hedge-fund billionaire on China disappearing people: They're behaving like a “strict parent”  —  I missed this yesterday.  If you did too, make amends.  Not just because the contrast this clip draws with the moral righteousness displayed by the Women's Tennis Association is so sharp …

Cancel Mel Gibson  —  Every day, as dawn's rosy fingers reach through my window, I arise and check in with Twitter, to see what fresh hell awaits.  Generally, by about 6:30, I've been made furious by the outrage du jour.  But recently, I experienced more of a sense of bemusement than ire …

CIA Covered Up Staff Sex Crimes Committed Against Minors  —  The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was aware that at least 10 members of its staff allegedly committed sex crimes against children, though only one employee was ever prosecuted, according to released documents first reported by BuzzFeed News.

My Worry for America  —  OPINION — I was a Brigadier General 30 years ago, assigned in Europe as the head of intelligence.  Most of the time I was looking at the Balkans because there was a war going on.  Yugoslavia lasted for 72 years and then it was gone; it fell apart.  —  These were bitter rivalries.

Liberty University professor charged in alleged abduction, sexual battery of student  —  A professor at Liberty University is accused in the abduction and sexual battery of a student, according to the evangelical school and court records in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Kayleigh McEnany says she didn't lie in the White House briefing room because she went to Oxford, Harvard, and Georgetown and is a Christian  — Former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claims she didn't lie in the White House briefing room.  — She writes in her upcoming book …

School districts across metro Detroit closed Thursday due to threats  —  In the wake of a deadly school shooting at Oxford High School on Tuesday, school districts across the area began announcing late Wednesday plans to call off classes on Thursday.  —  Superintendent Pat Watson …

EXCLUSIVE: No COVID in Cabo!  California governor Gavin Newsom does it again - with a Thanksgiving vacation at $29,000-a-night villa owned by Russian oligarch who admitted dodging $248M in taxes - days after extending state's state of emergency  — Governor Gavin Newsom spent Thanksgiving …

Facebook sold ads comparing vaccine to Holocaust  —  New York (CNN Business)Facebook has sold ads promoting anti-vaccine messages, comparing the US government's response to Covid-19 to Nazi Germany, casting doubt on the result of the 2020 election, and even pushing political violence.

Congress needs to act on Xi Jinping's genocide now  —  This week, a private U.K.-based investigative panel released what it says are classified Chinese government documents that appear to show how Chinese President Xi Jinping personally laid the groundwork for the systematic forced assimilation of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

Yes, Alec Baldwin's Gun Could Have Fired Without Him Pulling the Trigger  —  In his first major interview since being involved in a fatal shooting on the set of his latest movie, Alec Baldwin made a surprising new claim about his actions that day.  —  Baldwin said the gun went off without him ever actually pulling its trigger.

Republicans defy COVID vaccine policy at the N.J. Statehouse, ignoring troopers who tried to stop them  —  1,456  —  A number of Republican members of the state Assembly openly defied a new COVID-19 vaccine policy at the New Jersey Statehouse on Thursday and took their seats to cast votes anyway …

On the Question of Expelling Congressman Bowman  —  As a socialist organization building mass, working class power for the freedom of all oppressed peoples under capitalism and imperialism, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is committed to the Palestinian fight for freedom.

‘Magic dirt’: How the internet fueled, and defeated, the pandemic's weirdest MLM  —  The social media posts started in May: photos and videos of smiling people, mostly women, drinking Mason jars of black liquid, slathering black paste on their faces and feet, or dipping babies and dogs in tubs of the black water.

Carlos Watson Has a Cold  —  A tale of the embattled Ozy founder, a turkey club sandwich, and a misadventure in crisis management.  —  On Wednesday, November 10, Carlos Watson, the embattled founder and C.E.O. of Ozy Media, told me that he was flying from his home in Mountain View, California …

Far right is using Twitter's new rule against anti-extremism researchers  —  Researchers fear the new ban on posts sharing people's private information will be ‘emboldening to the fascists’ eager to keep their identities concealed.  ‘Things now unexpectedly work more in our favor,’ one Nazi sympathizer wrote.

Major news outlets side with Steve Bannon on one part of his legal fight.  —  A coalition of the nation's largest media companies and news organizations has filed a legal brief in support of Stephen K. Bannon, asking a federal court not to bar him from publicly releasing documents related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

We Opened the Schools and ... It Was Fine  —  When the coronavirus pandemic first hit, many states and towns closed everything, including schools.  Public-health experts didn't know enough about how COVID was spread or how contagious it was, and the health-care system was overwhelmed in parts of the country.

Is web3 bullshit?  —  And is that even the right question? … Is web3 bullshit?  The hazy vision of new decentralized internet, built on the blockchain, to succeed the “Web 2.0” of Google and Facebook seems to be reaching a threshold of ambient cultural awareness such that non-tech pundits …