Why I'm Seeking a Third Senate Term  —  I'd like to retire, but I think the country is in too much peril.  —  I decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 because growing entitlements and out-of-control federal spending had exploded our national debt to $14 trillion.

Early Data Hints at Omicron's Potential Toll Across America  —  The extremely transmissible Omicron variant is spreading quickly across the United States, making up a vast majority of U.S. cases after becoming dominant in the week before Christmas.  —  The Centers for Disease Control …

Steve Bannon Is Onto Something  —  In his 2020 book “Politics Is for Power,” Eitan Hersh, a political scientist at Tufts, sketched a day in the life of many political obsessives in sharp, if cruel, terms.  —  To Hersh, that's not politics.  It's what he calls “political hobbyism.”

They bought a blender.  Three weeks later, their cats continue to hold it hostage.  —  On Black Friday, Jessica and Nikii Gerson-Neeves bought a blender.  It was a Vitamix blender, a professional-grade splurge, and the couple was looking forward to a winter of smoothies and soups.

‘We are going right to the belly of the beast’: Biden takes on Georgia  —  Fresh off a high-profile speech in which he warned that a dagger had been placed at the throat of American democracy, President Joe Biden will travel to the state that White House officials view as “ground zero” for Republican-led election suppression efforts.

Alan Dershowitz asked Donald Trump to grant Ghislaine Maxwell a pre-emptive pardon  —  Jeffrey Epstein's former lawyer lobbied Donald Trump to pre-emptively pardon Ghislaine Maxwell during the final days of his presidency after talks with her family.  —  Alan Dershowitz, 83 …

What New Yorkers See in This Portrait of the Mayor's Mother  —  Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter posed for a portrait at her 75th birthday party.  Her image, floating in a brandy snifter, has a powerful resonance.  —  On New Year's Day, when Eric Adams was sworn in as the 110th mayor of New York City …

Trump's Cable Cabinet: New texts reveal the influence of Fox hosts on previous White House  —  Stephanie Grisham, former press secretary to President Donald Trump, remembers the challenges that came from so many Fox News hosts having the direct number to reach Trump in the White House residence.

A rural Washington school board race shows how far-right extremists are shifting to local power … EATONVILLE, Wash. — On the morning she met her opponent for coffee, Sarah Cole walked in with a front-runner's confidence.  —  To Cole, the school board seat in this rural red district about an hour outside Seattle was all but hers.

Penn's Transgender Swimmer Lost To Yale's Transgender Swimmer In A Hotly Contested Women's Ivy League 100 meter Race … Penn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, who had been crushing her competition since joining the women's swim team after three years swimming as a biological male …

Walensky says Sotomayor's pediatric COVID hospitalization number was off 96.5%  —  The Supreme Court justice claimed there are more than 100,000 children in ‘serious condition’ from COVID-19  —  CDC director corrects Justice Sotomayor on mischaracterization of pediatric hospitalizations

Adams says Democratic Party has to be ‘radically practical’ in midterms  —  New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) on Sunday said the Democratic Party has to be “radically practical” if it wants to win November's midterm elections.  —  Asked by co-anchor Jake Tapper on CNN's “State of the Union” …

How the Trump Social-Media Ban Paid Off for Trump, Platforms  —  One year after being kicked off Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, the former president is raking in campaign cash and planning his own social-media company  —  For an entire year, Donald Trump has been banned from mainstream social-media outlets.

GOP senator says Trump's election allegations are unfounded  —  Sen. Mike Rounds on Sunday made it clear that he didn't subscribe to Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen from him.  —  “As a part of our due diligence, we looked at over 60 different accusations …

Mary Trump: Donald Trump has found people weaker than he is whom he can bend to his will  —  Ted Cruz walking back calling the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection a ‘terrorist attack’ is slammed by Joy Reid and her panel, who question what kind of hold Donald Trump has on the Republican Party.  —  Read More

A couple Sunday-morning thoughts on where we are now in the nation's covid fight, summarizing the attached story and some of our other recent coverage.  —  1) It's a tale of two variants right now.  The older Delta variant is still responsible for some severe cases, hospitalizations and deaths, particularly in the Midwest.

The West has a rare window to put Putin in his place  —  Biden to Ukraine: US ‘will respond decisively if Russia further invades’  —  (CNN)Next week may see one of the most significant and defining moments in relations between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

‘A wounded healer’: Ralph Northam wraps up extraordinary term in office, forged by scandal into a governor of lasting consequence  —  RICHMOND — The angry calls and emails began flooding in after a blackface photo from Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page appeared on the Internet.

Chicago Mayor Lightfoot slams teachers' union for ‘illegal walk-out,’ rejects proposal for remote learning  —  Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot insisted schools are safest place for kids  —  Chicago parents sue teachers union over school closures  —  Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot again lambasted …