GOP blows off Trump's bid to oust McConnell  —  Former President Donald Trump has hit a wall in his efforts to oust Mitch McConnell as GOP leader.  —  Despite months of attacks, the Trump-led campaign to depose the Senate minority leader has resulted in firm pledges from just two Republican candidates …

South Africa Hospitalization Rate Plunges in Omicron Wave  — Cases remain high compared with previous Covid waves  — Omicron infections may have peaked in epicenter Gauteng  —  South Africa delivered some positive news on the omicron coronavirus variant on Friday …

Trump invokes antisemitic tropes while discussing his support for Israel  —  Former President Donald Trump veered into several antisemitic tropes in a recent interview, claiming that Israel used to have “absolute power over Congress” and saying that American Jews — the majority of whom vote Democratic …

A glimmer of hope on Joe Manchin and voting rights?  —  By now, you'd be forgiven for concluding the chances of Sen. Joe Manchin III supporting a filibuster carve-out to pass democracy protections are somewhere between nonexistent and extremely nonexistent.  —  The West Virginia Democrat …

I Canceled My Birthday Party Because of Omicron  —  I turn 40 today, and I was planning to have a party.  The Delta surge made me nervous about it.  The arrival of Omicron made me cancel it.  —  The plan was to have an extended house party, with a couple dozen people popping by over the weekend.

The world as we know it is ending.  Why are we still at work?  —  From the pandemic to climate change, Americans are still expected to work no matter what happens.  —  For a moment in early 2020, it seemed like we might get a break from capitalism.  —  A novel coronavirus was sweeping the globe …

Children exposed to covid can safely stay in class with in-school testing, CDC says … Students who have been exposed to the coronavirus can safely continue in-person learning if they are regularly tested for the virus at school, avoiding disruptive at-home quarantines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Judge Overturns Purdue Pharma's Opioid Settlement  —  The ruling said the company's owners, members of the Sackler family, could not receive protection from civil lawsuits in return for a $4.5 billion contribution.  —  A federal judge on Thursday evening unraveled a painstakingly negotiated …

‘No evidence’ Omicron is less severe than Delta, say UK researchers  —  Imperial College study warns of elevated reinfection risk but notes ‘very limited’ data on hospitalisations  —  There is at present “no evidence” that the Omicron coronavirus variant is any less severe than the Delta strain …

Kanye West's ‘Independent’ Campaign Was Secretly Run by GOP Elites  —  The campaign took steps, experts say, to mask its connections to GOP operatives.  That could violate federal election laws.  —  New documents show Kanye West's doomed White House campaign—styled as an “independent” …

House oversight committee releases report detailing efforts of Trump administration officials to ‘undermine’ Covid-19 efforts in US  —  (CNN)Trump administration officials made “deliberate efforts to undermine the nation's coronavirus response for political purposes,” a House oversight committee led …

Herschel Walker's campaign falsely claimed he graduated from college  —  Republican Herschel Walker's campaign deleted a false claim that he graduated from the University of Georgia hours after it was posted on a website promoting his U.S. Senate bid.  —  The former football star's campaign removed …

New York Times fires ‘Wirecutter’ editor accused of leaving profane voicemails for gun rights group  —  Erin Marquis, a staffer for the popular product-review site, had also lashed out at a gun-rights organization on Twitter.  —  The New York Times has fired an editor for Wirecutter …

Dominion Defamation Suit Against Fox Can Move Forward  — Fox had enough information to know claims false, judge says  — Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson also targets of lawsuit  —  Fox News probably had enough information after the 2020 presidential election to know a conspiracy theory …

“Corrosive Communities”: How A Facebook Fight Over Wind Power Predicts the Future of Local Politics in America  —  Bad vibrations abound.  Many of them are obvious: We can sense them, measure the damage they do, try to counteract or avoid them.  Others exist in a range outside the limit of normal human perception.

Russia Lays Out Demands for a Sweeping New Security Deal With NATO  —  The proposal, coming as Russia masses troops on the border with Ukraine, was directed at the United States and Ukraine's other Western allies.  —  KYIV, Ukraine — Russia outlined on Friday its demands for a sweeping …

Texas AG Paxton's $2.2M voter fraud unit closed three cases in 2021.  GOP lawmakers still boosted its budget.  —  Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has been one of former President Donald Trump's most reliable allies in spreading the myth of widespread voter fraud …

Special Report: Amazon partnered with China propaganda arm  —  Amazon.com Inc was marketing a collection of President Xi Jinping's speeches and writings on its Chinese website about two years ago, when Beijing delivered an edict, according to two people familiar with the incident.

Trump Rioter Who Attacked Cops With Fire Extinguisher Gets Longest Jan. 6 Sentence Yet  —  Capitol rioter Robert Scott Palmer, known to online sleuths as #FloridaFlagJacket, was arrested by the FBI 12 days after he was named in a HuffPost story.  —  A Florida man who attacked law enforcement officers …

J.K. Rowling is being erased for defending women  —  Those seeking to understand why the average person is too terrified to speak up against transgender activism need only to look to J.K. Rowling.  In a promotional trailer for Rowling's forthcoming film, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore …

Josh Mandel, Candidate for GOP Nomination for Senate, On The 2020 Election and President Biden's Legitimacy  —  Former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel joined me this morning:  —  Audio:  —  12-17hhs-mandel  —  Transcript:  —  HH: Josh Mandel, former state treasurer in Ohio, is running for Senate in Ohio.

REVIEW: What I Learned From Hillary Clinton's Master Class on ‘The Power of Resilience’  —  You've probably heard the saying: Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach.  In this day and age, those who really can't become Master Class instructors on how to fail.

BBB negotiations stall in the Senate, could drag into next year  —  Good morning.  It's Friday.  President Biden is set to visit South Carolina today with Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.); Omicron is rapidly spreading in the U.S.; and Melania Trump wants you to gift her NFT for Christmas.

Melania Trump emerges to launch new NFT platform meant to ‘inspire’ — and earn cash  —  Former president Donald Trump once called bitcoin a scam that “competed against the dollar,” but on Thursday Melania Trump announced a new business venture embracing cryptocurrency and digital art.

Biden decries ‘unrelenting assault’ on voting rights in S.C. graduation address at Clyburn alma mater  —  President Biden on Friday decried the “unrelenting assault on the right to vote” and called for Americans to challenge hate and racism, in remarks at historically Black university …

Far-right using COVID-19 theories to grow reach, study shows  —  PARIS (AP) — The mugshot-style photos are posted on online message boards in black and white and look a little like old-fashioned “wanted” posters.  —  “The Jews own COVID just like all of Hollywood,” the accompanying text says.

Trump ally Roger Stone pleads the Fifth in deposition with January 6 committee  —  (CNN)Roger Stone, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, met briefly Friday with the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot and asserted his Fifth Amendment rights to every question asked, he said.