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.

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 …

Amy Coney Barrett Doesn't Understand the Trauma of Adoption  —  Ms. Spiers, a Democratic digital strategist, was adopted as an infant.  —  On Wednesday, as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from state attorneys seeking to uphold Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban …

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

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 …

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 …

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 …

Republicans pull back from the Covid brink — for now  —  (CNN)Sanity prevailed Thursday night when the Senate overcame an effort by a handful of conservative Republican senators who had threatened to force a government shutdown unless they got a vote on an amendment to defund President Joe Biden's Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

Blinken initiated call with PM amid doubts Israel actually called off Atarot plan  —  US dismayed to find East Jerusalem housing project back on docket of planning committee's agenda for next week, after Israeli officials leaked that plan was shelved, sources say

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 …

“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.

Alec Baldwin's Gun Could Have Fired Without Him Pulling the Trigger, But Did It?  —  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.