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.

DeSantis proposes a new civilian military force in Florida that he would control  —  St, Petersburg, Florida (CNN)Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to reestablish a World War II-era civilian military force that he, not the Pentagon, would control.  —  DeSantis pitched the idea Thursday …

The Supreme Court's End Game on Abortion  —  There are many reasons for dismay over the Supreme Court argument in the Mississippi abortion case, but it was the nonstop gaslighting that really got to me.  —  First there was Justice Clarence Thomas, pretending by his questions actually …

Job growth disappoints in November, with a gain of just 210,000, despite high hopes  —  November job growth falls far short of expectations, unemployment rate hits 4.2%  —  The U.S. economy created far fewer jobs than expected in November, before a new Covid threat created a scare that growth …

Increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection associated with emergence of the Omicron variant in South Africa  —  Juliet R.C. Pulliam, Cari van Schalkwyk, Nevashan Govender, Anne von Gottberg, Cheryl Cohen, Michelle J. Groome, Jonathan Dushoff, Koleka Mlisana, Harry Moultrie

Russia positions more forces, supply lines as fears rise of potential Ukraine invasion  —  Analysis: Would Putin get away with invading Ukraine again?  —  (CNN)Russian forces have capabilities in place along the Ukraine border to carry out a swift and immediate invasion …

Sidney Powell filed false incorporation papers for non-profit, grand jury finds  —  Trump's lawyer falsely claimed two men as fellow directors of Defending the Republic in an apparent effort to attract donors  —  A federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump's former attorney Sidney Powell …

A drama professor told students they got their feelings hurt too easily.  They decided to fight back  —  It all started with a misunderstanding.  —  A Black theater student at Coastal Carolina University told a visiting drama teacher she wanted to connect with nonwhite students …

Video15:08 Inside Australia's Covid internment camp  —  Freddie Sayers spoke to Hayley Hodgson, who has returned from a 14-day detention  —  Hayley Hodgson, 26, moved to Darwin from Melbourne to escape the never-ending lockdowns — only to find herself locked up in a Covid Internment Camp without even having the virus.

Feds could release ‘alternative’ Mueller report soon  —  An unpublished investigative compilation sometimes referred to as the “Alternative Mueller Report” has been located in Justice Department files and could be released soon, according to a letter filed in federal court Thursday.

Fauci calls out Fox for its silence after host compares him to Nazi doctor  —  (CNN Business)Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday night called out Fox News for staying silent after one of its personalities and streaming hosts, Lara Logan, compared him to an infamous Nazi doctor.

Avoiding shutdown, Congress approves bill to fund government through Feb. 18  —  House deal on government funding bill could face challenge in the Senate  —  WASHINGTON — Congress on Thursday passed a short-term government funding bill that will prevent a shutdown before the Friday night deadline …

Epstein visited the White House on 14 separate days and stopped by twice in one day on three occasions during Bill Clinton's first term  —  The disclosure puts renewed scrutiny on Clinton's friendship with Epstein, who was known to have flown the former president on his private jet …

More Democratic senators are willing to weigh changes to Supreme Court  —  This week's Supreme Court argument on abortion has accelerated an urgency among Senate Democrats to fundamentally alter how the court operates, fueled in part by lingering anger over Republican confirmation maneuvers …

Burnout, money, concern drive Harris turnover  —  Burnout, better opportunities and concern about being permanently branded a “Harris person” is driving some of the turnover in Vice President Kamala Harris's office, people familiar with the situation tell Axios.

Genocide, Stolen Land, and Other Lies about America  —  Native Americans: War refugees on conquered American soil?  —  A few years ago, I was invited by a small liberal arts college in the Northeast to give a series of lectures on ethics and the formation of moral character to a mixed group of juniors and graduating seniors.

Why I Can't Support Trump, the GOP, or Conservatism, Inc. Anymore  —  How many disappointments, betrayals, and failed promises do people need to endure before they say, “Never again?”  —  That the “woke” are anything but awake is a fact that needs no underscoring for readers of this website.

“We Were Just Trying to ... Find Any Leads about the Case”: A Police Video Raises New Questions About NBC's Rittenhouse Statement  —  In the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, proceedings were disrupted by what Judge Bruce Schroeder considered a major breach of security after NBC was found to be following the van of jurors.

TGIF: A Report From Waukesha  —  Plus: the brothers Cuomo; teachers against teaching; crime on the rise; and good news. … → Teachers against teaching: Public school teachers' unions around the country are proposing “self-taught” Fridays—in other words, a four-day work week—citing the stresses of the pandemic.

John Eastman's Lawyers Just Destroyed the Jan 6 Committee and Its ‘Subpoenas’.  —  You're going to want to read this letter in full.  —  Lawyers acting for constitutional law professor John Eastman have picked apart the raison d'etre for the January 6th Congressional committee …

What happened when I ran for school board in Virginia  —  About a year ago, when schools were still closed in northern Virginia and parents were fretting about learning loss, the school board in my small town of Falls Church voted to change the names of Thomas Jefferson Elementary and George Mason High.

Didi of China Moves to Delist From New York Stock Exchange  —  With plenty of its own money and a greater desire to control the private sector, Beijing is pushing its companies to tap investors closer to home.  —  The decades-long, trillion-dollar love affair between China and Wall Street is coming to an end.

Saudi warplanes carpet-bomb Yemen with US help.  This must end  —  The US must end all support for the Saudi war effort in Yemen.  It is fueling the largest humanitarian crisis in the world  —  he recent breaching of the United States' embassy in Yemen's capital city of Sanaa by rebel forces …

The Trump Conspiracy Is Hiding in Plain Sight  —  Antebellum pro-slavery radicals spoke freely of secession and violence; Democratic Party paramilitaries planned their attacks on Reconstruction governments in public view; and the men who codified segregation into Jim Crow did so in the open.

Thefts, Always an Issue for Retailers, Become More Brazen  —  In recent months, robberies have been more visible, with several involving large groups rushing into stores and coming out with armloads of goods.  —  “Flash mobs” swarm through a Nordstrom in Northern California and two Best Buy stores …

A Twitter tightrope without a net: Journalists' reactions to newsroom social media policies  —  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  —  Journalists increasingly rely on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to pursue audience engagement, which many believe necessary for improving journalism's popularity and credibility among the public.

December launches with exceptional warmth over large parts of Lower 48 states  —  Temperatures will be more than 30 degrees above average in some locations  —  Winter, by the meteorological definition (Dec. 1 to Feb. 28), began Wednesday morning, but the weather is feeling more like mid-fall …

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.

‘Enemy combatant’ held at Guantánamo petitions for release because war is over  —  Abu Zubaydah has been held without charge for nearly 20 years accused of offences in Afghanistan - a conflict Biden says had ended  —  Abu Zubaydah, the Guantánamo detainee who was tortured close …