U.S. Special Forces Raid Syrian Site in Search of Terrorist Leader  —  The operation was carried out in northwest Syria near the Turkish border  —  WASHINGTON—U.S. special operations forces carried out a combat operation to kill or capture a high-level terrorist in northwest Syria along the Turkish border …

Unmasking Of Rudy Giuliani On Fox's ‘The Masked Singer’ Prompts Judges Ken Jeong & Robin Thicke To Walk Off In Protest  —  EXCLUSIVE, SPOILER ALERT: Rudy Giuliani was last week unmasked as an exiting costumed contestant in the taping of the first episode of Fox's popular prime time show The Masked Singer.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Brian Stelter should start looking for another job.’ Attention turns to the CNN anchor following Jeff Zucker's ousting for his failure to report on the open secret affair while bashing other news networks  — Insiders are calling for Brian Stelter to be fired after failing …

Memos Show Roots of Trump's Focus on Jan. 6 and Alternate Electors  —  Just over two weeks after Election Day, lawyers working with the Trump campaign set out a rationale for creating alternate slates of electors as part of an effort to buy time to overturn the results.

Inside Mississippi's only class on critical race theory  —  As Republican lawmakers push to ban critical race theory, here's how the class changed the mind of one conservative Mississippian.  —  Brittany Murphree was born and raised in Rankin County, Mississippi, one of the most Republican counties …

L.A. Mayor Garcetti Says He Held His Breath For Maskless Photo With Magic Johnson  —  Los Angeles Mayor — and Biden Administration ambassadorial nominee — Eric Garcetti today defended his actions after maskless photos surfaced of him and Lakers great Magic Johnson, along …

POLITICO Playbook: What Eric Adams taught Joe Biden about the politics of crime  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  BREAKING OVERNIGHT — via AP's Ghaith Alsayed, Lolita Baldor and Bassem Mroue: “U.S. special forces carried out what the Pentagon said was a large-scale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria early Thursday.

America is in Europe to stay — thanks to Putin  —  By threatening Ukraine's sovereignty, Moscow has achieved something Biden could not do on his own: unite the west  —  So much for America's shift from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific.  By demanding concessions that have shocked a divided …

How much 2022 candidates are paying after endorsements  —  Some big-name 2022 candidates are cutting checks to high-profile backers who endorsed their campaigns, records show.  —  Why it matters: Key endorsements are a known boon to campaigns battling for support, especially among ideologically committed primary voters.

Memo circulated among Trump allies advocated using NSA data in attempt to prove stolen election  —  The proposal to seize and analyze “NSA unprocessed raw signals data” raises legal and ethical concerns that set it apart from other attempts that have come to light.

3 more women say Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy filmed them without asking during sex … In November 2021, three young women came forward about sexual encounters they had with Barstool Sports' founder, Dave Portnoy.  These women told Insider the experiences with Portnoy turned frightening …

National Butterfly Center on Texas border closing indefinitely after attacks from right-wing conspiracy theorists  —  The National Butterfly Center on the Texas border is closing “for the immediate future” after conspiracy-fueled attacks against the center on social media escalated in recent days.

NYC Mayor Adams dines with ex-Gov. Cuomo at Midtown restaurant  —  Mayor Adams enjoyed a two-hour dinner with Andrew Cuomo at a popular Italian restaurant in Manhattan on Tuesday night, raising eyebrows from critics of the former governor who resigned last year amid a flurry of sexual misconduct accusations.

He's Head of a Georgia Election Board—and Fixated on QAnon  —  Ben Johnson of Spalding County dabbles in election conspiracies even as he holds power over voting. … The Republican chair of a rural Georgia election board—which has the power to restrict or expand access to voting …

Putin heads to China to bolster ties amid Ukraine tensions  —  MOSCOW (AP) — American and European officials may be staying away from the Beijing Winter Olympics because of human rights concerns, but Russian President Vladimir Putin will be on hand even as tensions soar over his buildup …

Take The Hint, John Roberts — It's Time For You To Retire, Too  —  “Judges are like umpires,” John Roberts famously said at his confirmation hearing as Chief Justice.  “Umpires don't make the rules, they apply them ... They make sure everybody plays by the rules, but it is a limited role.

Former Human Rights Campaign president alleges racial bias in his firing after Andrew M. Cuomo scandal  —  The former president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group, sued the organization Thursday, contending that a pattern of racial discrimination led …

Woodside freezes SB 9 projects, citing an exemption for mountain lion habitats  —  New housing law allows up to four residential units per lot  —  Mountain lions and housing policy aren't often uttered in the same sentence, but that was the case last week in Woodside.

Exclusive: NRA Revenues Cut in Half Since 2018, Legal Spending Spiked in 2021  —  The National Rifle Association of America shrank significantly through the first eight months of 2021, according to detailed financial records obtained by The Reload.  —  The contraction came in membership …

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is a key Republican to watch on environmental issues  —  Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202!  Maxine finally got her cast off yesterday after fracturing her wrist in December, and she's excited to be typing this newsletter with both hands again.  🎉

Peter Schweizer's ‘Red-Handed’ Hits #1 on New York Times Bestseller List  —  Peter Schweizer's blockbuster new book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, one week after its release by HarperCollins.

When the Pope Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie, That's Ahmari  —  From neoconservatism to integralist cosplay to active worship of China and Russia, the ‘post-liberal’ right has had a giddy five years  —  I first met Sohrab Ahmari, one of the most influential and controversial writers …