William Hartmann, 63, Michigan Official Who Disputed Election, Dies  —  He refused to certify Joseph Biden's victory over Donald Trump in Detroit but later relented.  A foe of Covid vaccines, he was hospitalized with the virus.  —  William Hartmann, one of two Republican election officials …

Jussie Smollett being found guilty of hoax will hurt LGBTQ folks reporting hate crimes  —  The Jussie Smollett saga may now be technically over after a Chicago jury found the actor guilty Thursday of five of the six counts he faced, but its impact will be — and has already been — felt for years to come.

National Archives: Meadows may not have stored all Trump-era records ‘properly’  —  Mark Meadows and the National Archives are in talks over potential records he did “not properly” turn over from his personal phone and email account, the presidential record-keeping agency confirmed Thursday.

U.K. Court Rules Julian Assange Can Be Extradited to U.S.  —  The WikiLeaks founder can still appeal the verdict, which would leave him facing espionage charges that could put him in prison for decades.  —  LONDON — A British court ruled on Friday that Julian Assange can be extradited …

Trump blasts Netanyahu for disloyalty: “F**k him”  —  Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu were the closest of political allies during the four years they overlapped in office, at least in public.  Not anymore.  “I haven't spoken to him since,” Trump said of the former Israeli prime minister.

Trump's White House Passed Around a PowerPoint on How to End American Democracy  —  The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol on Thursday released slides from a PowerPoint calling for former President Trump to declare a national security emergency in order …

The Supreme Court isn't well.  The only hope for a cure is more justices.  —  Nancy Gertner is a retired U.S. District Court judge.  Laurence H. Tribe is Carl M. Loeb University Professor emeritus and professor of constitutional law emeritus at Harvard Law School.

Reality TV's Josh Duggar convicted of child porn possession  —  FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was immediately taken into custody Thursday after a federal jury convicted him of downloading and possessing child pornography.  —  The jury in Fayetteville …

Democrats don't think Manchin wants Biden agenda vote by Christmas  —  Democratic senators say that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has made it clear to them through what they say are stalling tactics that he has no desire to vote on President Biden's sweeping climate and social spending agenda before Christmas.

Public Life Can't Survive Without a Center  —  The loudest, most prominent voices in public life are not always the most influential.  Some of the people who leave the most profound impact—the ones who actually shape the thinking of a generation—do so quietly.  Fred Hiatt, who died earlier this week, was one of those people.

Covid Malaise  —  Why do Americans say the economy is in rough shape?  Because it is.  —  Offices remain eerily empty.  Airlines have canceled thousands of flights.  Subways and buses are running less often.  Schools sometimes call off entire days of class.  Consumers waste time waiting in store lines.

New York City Gives 800,000 Noncitizens Right to Vote in Local Elections  —  The legislation approved by the City Council will set up a system for legal residents to vote in municipal elections.  —  New York City became the largest city in the country to allow noncitizens to vote …

The Pandemic of the Vaccinated Is Here  —  Even before the arrival of Omicron, the winter months were going to be tough for parts of the United States.  While COVID transmission rates in the South caught fire over the summer, the Northeast and Great Plains states were largely spared thanks …

Public view on Biden's handling of Covid and the economy takes another hit, CNBC survey shows  — President Joe Biden's overall approval rating stabilized at a low level of 41%, according to the CNBC All-America Survey.  — Biden's approval rating on handling the economy and dealing with the coronavirus both declined.

With Too Few Nurses, It Won't Take Much to Overwhelm Hospitals This Winter  —  Nurse Hannah Drummond routinely must watch patients for hours as they lie in the emergency department, waiting for a hospital bed upstairs.  That includes patients so ill they use breathing machines or need hospice or intensive care, she said.

Trump-Backed Mo Brooks Shakes Up His Struggling Alabama Senate Campaign  —  Alabama Rep. Brooks fired his consultants a few weeks ago and is replacing them with a new team—including one who's been very critical of Trump.  —  Trump-endorsed Republican Rep. Mo Brooks is shaking …

Texas Judge Rules State Abortion Law Unconstitutional Over Its Enforcement  —  ‘EAGER IDEOLOGICAL CLAIMANTS’  —  A judge in Texas ruled the state's controversial new abortion law unconstitutional Thursday.  The statute bans abortions after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant …

Kanye West publicist pressed Georgia election worker to confess to bogus fraud charges  —  Weeks after the 2020 election, a Chicago publicist for hip-hop artist Kanye West traveled to the suburban home of Ruby Freeman, a frightened Georgia election worker who was facing death threats …

‘We will not be defeated’: 36 hours of Fox News covering its own Christmas tree fire  —  A man was arrested for allegedly setting fire to the giant tree in Manhattan.  It became a major story.  —  For more than 36 hours after a 50-foot-tall Christmas tree outside Fox News's Manhattan headquarters …

‘Get them ready now’: Matt Gaetz and Steve Bannon discuss plan to take over government with ‘shock troops’  —  Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Thursday talked with conservative broadcaster Steve Bannon about a plan to use “4,000 shock troops” to take over the jobs of federal government employees.

That Cream Cheese Shortage You Heard About?  Cyberattacks Played a Part  —  Hackers shut down the biggest cheese manufacturer during peak demand  —  The cream cheese shortage wreaking havoc on bagel shops and bakeries is, in part, due to a cyberattack on the biggest U.S. cheese manufacturer.

Tucker Carlson and the desperate, shoddy search for Jan. 6 ‘provocateurs’  —  From basically the moment the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection concluded, supporters of Donald Trump have sought to pitch the event as a “false flag” — and ultimately even some kind of government conspiracy.

McCarthy faces make or break moment with proxy voting case  —  Plenty of House Republicans have softened their stance on remote voting during the pandemic.  Not their leader, who's digging in all the way to the Supreme Court.  —  The high court will decide as soon as Friday whether …

Progressives need to tell the positive story about immigration  —  One big story in politics this week is a new poll showing that the Hispanic shift toward the Republican party in 2020 might not have been a blip:  —  Julia Manchester @JuliaManch  —  New polling from @WSJ shows …

Bitcoin surge was a windfall for white supremacists, research finds  —  Some prominent white nationalists invested early in bitcoin and have gotten rich off its sharp rise in value in recent years, researchers say.  —  Fringe movements have acquired an estimated tens of millions of dollars …

Russia keeps tensions high over Ukraine while waiting for next Biden move  —  Russia kept up a barrage of hostile rhetoric towards Ukraine on Thursday and compared the crisis there to the most dangerous moment of the Cold War as it waited for U.S. President Joe Biden to invite it to possible talks with NATO countries.