Republican Voters Can — and Should — Rethink Nominating Trump  —  To say Donald Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination is an understatement.  He is above 60 percent in national polling averages and leads by roughly 30 points in Iowa.  His lead is much narrower in New Hampshire …

Hunter Biden makes surprise appearance at House contempt hearing  —  President's son also made an unexpected appearance last December to blast House Republicans who have subpoenaed him  —  Hunter Biden made an unexpected appearance on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning …

Trump prosecutor accused of ‘improper’ relationship with Georgia DA Fani Willis billed $4K for meetings with WH officials  —  The special prosecutor that Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis is accused of having an “improper” relationship with billed the Fulton County DA's office $4,000 …

Florida school district removes dictionaries from libraries, citing law championed by DeSantis  —  The Escambia County School District, located in the Florida panhandle, has removed several dictionaries from its library shelves over concerns that making the dictionaries available to students would violate Florida law.

Republican governors in 15 states reject summer food money for kids  —  Moving beyond efforts to block expansion of health care for the poor and disabled, Republican governors in 15 states are now rejecting a new, federally funded summer program to give food assistance to hungry children.

Fox News ran a conspiratorial segment saying the Pentagon wanted to use Taylor Swift as a psy-op  — Fox News' Jesse Watters floated a brand new theory about Taylor Swift on Tuesday night.  — He said the Pentagon had planned to make her an “asset” in a pro-President Joe Biden “psyop.”

Trump's Bad Day in Court  —  The first of many to come  —  Following Tuesday morning's oral argument in the District of Columbia, Donald Trump made some predictable comments to the press from a Washington, D.C., hotel.  As he finished, a reporter shouted out a request that he use the moment to tell his followers, “No violence.”

Al Shabab Terrorist Group Captures U.N. Helicopter in Somalia  —  Somali officials said the helicopter was carrying nine passengers, one of whom was killed.  —  A United Nations helicopter carrying nine passengers was captured in Somalia on Wednesday by the terrorist group Al Shabab …

Bosses in the Biden admin are pressed over young staffers' anonymous letters  —  Protest letters, like those over Israel, were rare in past administrations.  White House veterans can barely contain their disdain over how times have changed.  —  Protest culture is shattering the last remaining barriers …

Lauren Boebert's Ex-Husband Arrested on Weapons and Assault Charges  —  In addition to the assault and weapons counts, Boebert was also charged with harassment ("strikes shoves, kicks"), disorderly conduct, and trespassing, jail records show.  —  Jayson Boebert, the former husband of Rep. Lauren Boebert …

Chris Christie says Chris Sununu is a ‘liar,’ after suggesting his campaign is on its last breath  —  ROCHESTER, N.H. —  Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie fired back on calls from Gov. Chris Sununu to drop out of the race for president, telling WMUR in a one-on-one interview Tuesday …

Settlers killed a Palestinian teen.  Israeli forces didn't stop it.  —  A review of the deadliest settler attack in the West Bank since the war began shows how increasingly violent tactics have gone unpunished  —  The threats were sent via Facebook on Oct. 9 to residents of Qusra …

Why Haley Won't Break Through  —  Today's GOP is split along class lines, and her college-grad supporters aren't the majority.  —  WAUKEE, Iowa —  Nikki Haley's Tuesday rally outside Des Moines was a fittingly pedestrian event in this desultory excuse of a presidential primary.

Psst: Joe Biden Has Solved the Student Debt Crisis  —  This past fall, with student loan payments set to resume after the pandemic pause, dread was setting in.  My pre-pandemic monthly payments had been a crippling burden that made saving money impossible; the pause was a lifeline that had allowed …

Republican Officials Openly Insult Women Nearly Killed by Abortion Bans  —  Red states would rather let a patient die than let her terminate a dangerous pregnancy.  And they're barely pretending otherwise.  —  For many years before S.B. 8 passed in Texas and was then swept into existence …

‘It was a mirage’: States face budget woes as huge infusions of federal cash run out  —  Huge buckets of pandemic funding allowed states to boost spending and cut taxes, but now the windfall has run out  —  The pandemic boom times are over for state lawmakers — and so is their ability …

Judge Signals Trump Is Doomed in New E. Jean Carroll Trial  —  In a 27-page order, the judge overseeing the E. Jean Carroll case essentially sides entirely against Trump and suggests the case is basically already decided.  —  With Donald Trump's second rape defamation trial only one week away …

Trump says he was never on Epstein's plane or ‘stupid island’  —  President Trump denounced reports of his association with Jeffrey Epstein Tuesday, arguing he had never been on the convicted sex trafficker's plane or “stupid island” after images of the two made by artificial intelligence (AI) surfaced online.

Starbucks sued for allegedly using coffee from farms with rights abuses while touting its ‘ethical’ sourcing  —  The lawsuit calls for the coffee chain to end its “unfair and deceptive” trade practices and argues that the company is aware of the child and forced labor on some of its supplier farms.

Playbook: The vibes have not improved  —  With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  THE GENERATION GAP — “'You're not the boss of me': Former White House aides slam current staffers' tendency to protest,” by Eugene: “Protest letters, like those over Israel, were rare in past administrations.

Constitutional Law Scholars on the Impeachment Proceedings Against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas  —  Joined by an extraordinary group of constitutional experts, we have published an open letter concerning the impeachment proceedings against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

X's fresh temporary ban of several prominent journalists raises alarm  —  “We do sweeps for spam/scam accounts and sometimes real accounts get caught up in them,” Elon Musk wrote on X, responding to the temporary ban of at least 8 accounts, including those of a handful of journalists.