Just Wait Until You Get to Know Ron DeSantis  —  Governor Ron DeSantis has a growing store of admirers.  This includes many who have watched the cantankerous Floridian only from afar.  They have heard glowing things.  He was the biggest winner of an otherwise dark election cycle for Republicans.

House Democrats will elect a new generation of leaders Wednesday  —  WASHINGTON — House Democrats will elect their new leadership team Wednesday morning, ushering in a younger generation of leaders after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer decided to step aside after Democrats narrowly lost the majority this month.

House January 6 committee chairman says panel ‘close to putting pens down’ on final report  —  The chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol said Tuesday that the panel is “close to putting pens down” on its final report, which is slated for release by the end of this Congress.

Buckingham Palace Staff Member Resigns Over Remarks to Black Guest  —  The founder of an antiviolence support group said an aide pressed her on where she was from, dismissing Britain as an answer.  The palace called the questioning “unacceptable and deeply regrettable.”

Exclusive: Sam Bankman-Fried says he's down to $100,000 … In an interview, the former FTX CEO pointed to both personal failures and regulatory gaps to help explain the implosion of his company. … “I mean, I have no idea.  I don't know.  I had $100,000 in my bank account last I checked,” he said.

If Only Someone Could Have Warned Them  —  Why Republicans refused to see the truth about Trump until it was too late.  —  If you were a Republican hoping that Donald Trump would either quietly fade away or become muted and “presidential” in the run-up to 2024, you didn't have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

EU and US turn up the heat on Elon Musk over Twitter  —  EU commissioner warns billionaire he must adhere to the rules as Janet Yellen indicates Washington could review purchase  —  Elon Musk is under renewed pressure from the US and EU over his ownership of Twitter, as regulators clamp …

NYC mother-of-three refuses to take plea deal and now faces seven years in prison after slamming into group of BLM protesters in 2020 - sending 50 flying across Third Ave - when they attacked her BMW  — Kathleen Casillo, 54, rejected a plea deal for a second time on Tuesday

Braun to run for Indiana governor, opening Senate seat in 2024  —  Indiana Sen. Mike Braun is running for governor, according to paperwork filed with the secretary of state's office Tuesday.  —  POLITICO reported in September that Braun, elected to the Senate in 2018 after defeating former Sen. Joe Donnelly …

AG: Penalize doctor who spoke of Ohio 10-year-old's abortion  —  Indiana's Republican attorney general on Wednesday asked the state medical licensing board to discipline an Indianapolis doctor who has spoken publicly about providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled from Ohio …

Editor's Note: A Review of Criticisms of a ProPublica-Vanity Fair Story on a COVID Origins Report  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.  —  On Oct. 28, ProPublica and Vanity Fair published …

The GOP's same-sex marriage evolution: A slow, choppy tidal shift  —  Thom Tillis has helped ink plenty of bipartisan deals over the past two years.  His advocacy for protecting same-sex marriage rights still surprised some of his fellow senators.  —  “When people first saw me get involved …

SF police ‘killer robots’ motion passes  —  Police in San Francisco will have the ability to deploy potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations after supervisors of the politically Democratic city granted permission Tuesday in a board vote.

Herschel Walker's stumbles complicate final stretch of his runoff bid  —  As a surge of Georgia voters streamed to the polls this weekend, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock headlined a half-dozen rallies across metro Atlanta.  Herschel Walker, his Republican opponent, was nearly invisible, without a public event for five days.

House committee receives Donald Trump's federal tax returns from IRS  —  The House Ways and Means Committee now has six years of Donald Trump's federal tax returns, ending a yearslong pursuit by Democrats to dig into one of the former president's most closely guarded personal details.

Biden to honor tribes with Nevada national monument, his biggest yet  —  Tribes, environmentalists and many local officials support protecting nearly 450,000 acres around Spirit Mountain, but some developers warn it could hamper renewable energy projects  —  SEARCHLIGHT, Nevada …

No Dissent on Abortion Allowed at Hogan Lovells  —  The global law firm fired me for defending the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision.  —  After the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June, global law firm Hogan Lovells organized an online conference call for female employees.

It Was Sedition  —  It's fitting that Merriam-Webster's word of the year is gaslighting.  Since a violent mob assaulted the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, apologists have tried to argue that the thing everyone saw with their own eyes, captured in videos and photographs, simply wasn't what it appeared to be.

Bibi's Back: A Conversation With Israel's New Prime Minister  —  'How many leaders have come back from political death, not once, but twice?  I've come back.  The question is: what am I coming back for?' … Bari Weiss: Prime Minister Netanyahu, thank you so much for being here.

BAKING NEWS: U.N. deems French baguettes essential to humanity's culture  —  Lovers of France's iconic, long bread loaf: Rejoice!  The baguette has now earned special recognition by the United Nations as an integral part of humanity's cultural heritage.  —  That is to say …

‘Breach of the Big Silence.’ Protests Stretch China's Censorship to Its Limits  —  Days later, videos of chants and confrontations are still visible on the Chinese internet.  It's a sign of how a groundswell outmatched the world's best internet control system.  —  In one video, a man sarcastically sings a patriotic song.

ADP private sector November jobs report in and...oh, dear  —  Was it only a month ago that someone was, yet again, stuffing an ice cream cone into his maw and snapping back at a reporter's question? … Video  —  The brakes came on abruptly for the private job market in November.

New Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds small rebound in approval of U.S. Supreme Court, continued opposition to use of race as a factor in college admissions  —  MILWAUKEE - A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds 44% of adults approve of the job the U.S. Supreme Court is doing, while 56% disapprove.

Jiang Zemin, Leader Who Guided China Into Global Market, Dies at 96  —  Mr. Jiang, a wily and garrulous politician, presided over a decade of meteoric economic growth in the post-Tiananmen era.  —  Jiang Zemin, the Shanghai Communist kingpin who was handpicked to lead China …

Twitter ends its ban on covid misinformation  —  Doctors and public health officials say Musk's decision is a ‘huge step backwards’ and will lead to more deaths  —  Twitter will no longer enforce its policy against coronavirus misinformation, worrying experts who say the move …

Meet the legal nerd who MAGA bigwigs are turning to for help  —  Stanley Woodward wasn't supposed to be here, at the epicenter of the most contentious legal matters facing Trump world.  —  But now he's everywhere.  —  On Oct. 19, the veteran attorney was in court representing Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs …

Jerome Powell Signals Fed Prepared to Slow Rate-Rise Pace in December  —  Fed chair says a labor-market slowdown will be needed to bring inflation back to the central bank's 2% target  —  WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank is on track to raise interest rates …

On City Streets, Fear and Hope as Mayor Pushes to Remove Mentally Ill  —  Mayor Eric Adams intends to remove people with severe, untreated mental illness from the streets.  That will mean involuntary hospitalization of people deemed unable to care for themselves.

The (Nonpartisan) Polls Were Fine, Actually  —  Heading into the 2022 election, the conventional wisdom suggested that the Republican party was going to have a good night.  Traditional midterm indicators (such as Biden's approval ratings) looked good for Republicans, and over the last few weeks of the cycle …