Top Items:
TMZ.com:
Betty White Dead at 99 — EXCLUSIVE — 987.9K … 12:32 PM PT — The beginnings of a makeshift memorial outside Betty's house are underway. — One fan has already stopped by to place flowers under a tree at the gate, and pay their respects. — 11:44 AM PT — A source close …
Discussion:
Salon, Raw Story, The Daily Dot, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, W, Joe.My.God., Insider, The Western Journal, Billboard, The Wrap, Variety, Pet Rescue Report and The Daily Caller
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Stephen M. Silverman / People.com:
Betty White, The Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland Star, Dead at 99 — “Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” Betty White's agent and close friend Jeff Witjas tells PEOPLE in a statement — Betty White, TV's perennial Golden Girl, has died. She was 99.
Discussion:
Page Six, New York Post, Todd Starnes, Variety, CNN, Fox News, Billboard, Deadline, Al Jazeera, The Wrap, Insider, RedState, Vanity Fair, KRON4, UPI, NBC Chicago, The Right Scoop, Deseret News, FOX 46 Charlotte, WRIC-TV, Raw Story, Hollywood Reporter, NPR and Slate
Adam Bernstein / Washington Post:
Betty White, one of the most endearing and enduring faces on television, dies at 99 — Betty White, an Emmy Award-winning comic actress who was best known for playing a man-hungry TV hostess on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in the 1970s and a ditzy widow on “The Golden Girls” …
Discussion:
Reuters, Snopes.com, The Daily Beast, Mediaite and Billboard
Richard Severo / New York Times:
Betty White, a TV Fixture for Seven Decades, Is Dead at 99 — Among the many highlights of a career that began in 1949 were star turns on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in the 1970s and “Saturday Night Live” in 2010. — Betty White, who created two of the most memorable characters in sitcom history …
Discussion:
MyNorthwest.com, Variety and The Mahablog
Kyle Morris / Fox News:
Ron DeSantis accompanied wife to cancer treatment while critics claimed he was ‘missing’ — DeSantis announced his wife's breast cancer diagnosis in October — Florida Democrats blame DeSantis for COVID surge — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis accompanied his wife to her cancer treatment …
Discussion:
Twitchy
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Darragh Roche / Newsweek:
Where Is Ron DeSantis? Photos Fuel Speculation About Whereabouts of Florida Governor — Photos circulating on social media have raised new questions about the whereabouts of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as he faces criticism amid a surge in COVID-19 in his state.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Joe.My.God. and Political Flare
Brittany Bernstein / National Review:
EXCLUSIVE: AOC Spotted in Miami Beach as NYC Reports Record Covid Cases — Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was spotted dining in Miami Beach, Fla. on Thursday, according to a tip received by National Review, on the same day that her native New York City reported a record number of Covid-19 cases.
Mark Moore / New York Post:
AOC pictured dining maskless in Miami Beach as Omicron cases soar
AOC pictured dining maskless in Miami Beach as Omicron cases soar
Discussion:
Power Line, The Daily Caller, RedState, Fox News and Instapundit
Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Florida Democrats blast ‘MIA’ Gov. Ron DeSantis as Covid cases surge
Florida Democrats blast ‘MIA’ Gov. Ron DeSantis as Covid cases surge
Discussion:
Fox News, Twitchy, TheGrio, Joe.My.God., Mediaite, Florida Politics and MSNBC
Andrew Naughtie / The Independent:
Desantis's staff blast AOC over Miami vacation to shift focus from questions about governor's absence
Desantis's staff blast AOC over Miami vacation to shift focus from questions about governor's absence
Discussion:
National Review and Townhall
Ryan Gillespie / Orlando Sentinel:
Florida doesn't plan to open COVID testing sites amid surge, Orange County official says
Florida doesn't plan to open COVID testing sites amid surge, Orange County official says
Discussion:
Joe.My.God.
New York Times:
Omicron Doesn't Infect the Lungs Very Well, Animal Studies Find — Compared with earlier variants, Omicron may cause less damage to the lungs, new animal research suggests. — A spate of new studies on lab animals and human tissues are providing a possible explanation …
Discussion:
The Times of Israel and Political Wire
Joel Achenbach / Washington Post:
‘Crazy’ omicron surge could peak soon, but the virus is unpredictable as the pandemic enters its third year — Columbia University researchers estimate infections could top out during the week of Jan. 9 — The rapid surge of omicron infections in the United States may be relatively brief …
Discussion:
HotAir, Breitbart, Deseret News and New York Times
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Mary Louise Kelly / NPR:
Retired general warns the U.S. military could lead a coup after the 2024 election — As the anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol approaches, three retired U.S. generals have warned that another insurrection could occur after the 2024 presidential election and the military could instigate it.
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Ineptocracy Chronicles
Victoria Guida / Politico:
FDIC's GOP chair to resign after partisan brawl — Jelena McWilliams on Friday unexpectedly submitted her resignation. — Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Jelena McWilliams on Friday unexpectedly submitted her resignation after the Trump appointee faced partisan strife at the bank regulator …
Discussion:
FDIC, New York Times, Raw Story and Political Wire
Cate Cadell / Washington Post:
China harvests masses of data on Western targets, documents show — China is turning a major part of its internal Internet data surveillance network outward, mining Western social media, including Facebook and Twitter, to equip its government agencies, military and police with information on foreign targets …
Michael Williams / Dallas Morning News:
Ted Cruz's daughter takes to TikTok to discuss life as senator's kid — Answering questions from followers on TikTok, she discusses the pros and cons of being a senator's daughter. — Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz found himself in a predicament this week that would make any parent working …
Discussion:
RedState, Mediaite, The Duck Refused Medical …, Twitchy and Dallas Observer
Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:
Louisiana Judge Michelle Odinet Resigns Over Shocking Racial Slur Video — QUITTING TIME — A Louisiana judge has resigned weeks after footage from her home appeared to show her repeatedly using the N-word and comparing a burglary suspect to a “roach.” Michelle Odinet was Lafayette City …
Discussion:
New York Post, KLFY-TV and Raw Story
Jonah Goldberg / The G-File:
Top-Down Letdown — How elites failed us in 2021. — Dear Reader (and all the strange voices in my head), — I finally got COVID. I assume it was Omicron, but who knows? Whatever variant it was, it wasn't fun. Since odds are good everybody everywhere is going to get it, I'll spare you the detailed reporting from my sickbed.
Dartunorro Clark / NBC News:
Biden plans to reaffirm support for Ukraine in call Zelenskyy on Sunday — President Joe Biden plans to speak by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday to reaffirm U.S. support for the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the White House told reporters on Friday.
Discussion:
CNBC, CNN, Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA, Reuters, One America News Network and Deseret News
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New York Times:
Putin Warns Biden of ‘Complete Rupture’ of U.S.-Russia Relationship Over Ukraine
Putin Warns Biden of ‘Complete Rupture’ of U.S.-Russia Relationship Over Ukraine
Discussion:
NPR, Politico, Japan Times, New York Post, Breitbart, TASS, Voice of America, Wide World of News, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The White House, One America News Network, CNN and Washington Post
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Joe Biden's Year of Hoping Dangerously — It was a brutal start for the new President. — The best thing you can say about 2021 is that it will soon be over. A year that started with an insurrection at the Capitol is ending with more than eight hundred thousand Americans dead in the covid pandemic …
Discussion:
Truth and Consequences, The Banter, Newsbusters and Breitbart
Office of the Texas Governor:
Governor Abbott, TDEM, DSHS Request Federally-Supported COVID-19 Testing Sites, Medical Personnel, Increased Monoclonal Antibody Allocations — Governor Greg Abbott announced today that the State of Texas, through the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) and the Texas Department …
Discussion:
KXAN-TV and CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
Kimberly Atkins Stohr / The Boston Globe:
A year after a seditious insurrection, why won't federal prosecutors treat it that way? — History is full of examples where other uprisings have resulted in charges of sedition conspiracy and insurrection, something that — despite ample video evidence and the admissions of those involved — hasn't happened here.
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Meet the GOP's new national security power broker — DRIVING THE DAY — TIME TO GIVE UP? — Every year, one of us makes a resolution to stop biting her nails. It never happens. According to CBS, the percentage of Americans making resolutions this year dropped 14 points.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Susan Heavey / Reuters:
Experts, governors warn of U.S. Omicron ‘blizzard’ in weeks ahead
Experts, governors warn of U.S. Omicron ‘blizzard’ in weeks ahead
Discussion:
The Guardian and Political Wire