Mexican President's Harsh Takedown of Trump Exposes an Ugly MAGA Scam  —  Donald Trump's angry threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports from Mexico—delivered Monday via the cautious diplomatic language of a Truth Social rant—is widely being depicted as a bluff.

Ex-Prosecutor Spots The Jack Smith Move That May Keep Donald Trump ‘Cases Alive’  —  It's “not at all” about “obeying an authoritarian in advance,” argued Barbara McQuade.  —  LOADING  —  Former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade broke down why Jack Smith would preemptively “pull the plug” …

X users left stunned by ‘terrible’ video of Harris speaking to supporters: ‘Who thought this was a good idea?’  —  Vice President Kamala Harris addressed her loss for the first time since her concession speech  —  Vice President Kamala Harris' first video to her supporters after the election stunned social media users Tuesday.

3 Americans, Including F.B.I. Informant, Are Said to Be Freed in China Swap  —  The three men, John Leung, Kai Li and Mark Swidan, are on planes heading to the United States, officials said.  —  The Biden administration has negotiated a prisoner swap with China for the release of three American men …

Trump's radical plan to purge the civil service  —  “It's explicitly about retribution.”  —  ∙ Paid … 🥘  —  Trump has been bloviating for nearly a decade now about his desire to “drain the swamp.”  He finally has a real plan to do it.  —  In the final months of his first term …

X's Objection to the Onion Buying InfoWars Is a Reminder You Do Not Own Your Social Media Accounts  —  On Monday, X filed an objection in The Onion's bid to buy InfoWars out of bankruptcy.  In the objection, Elon Musk's lawyers argued that X has “superior ownership” of all accounts on X …

Someone Made a Dataset of One Million Bluesky Posts for ‘Machine Learning Research’  —  Update: Following the publication of this article on Tuesday evening, van Strien removed the dataset.  “I've removed the Bluesky data from the repo,” he wrote on Bluesky.

Musk Calls for Abolishing Consumer Finance Agency: ‘Delete CFPB’  — GOP has long sought to neutralize agency proposed by Warren  — Musk, Ramaswamy leading DOGE effort to cut federal government  —  Billionaire Elon Musk called for eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau …

Trump Picks Stanford Physician Who Opposed Lockdowns to Head N.I.H.  —  As the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya would oversee the world's premier medical research agency, with a $47 billion budget and 27 separate institutes and centers.

US economy grows at 2.8% pace in third quarter on consumer spending  —  The American economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September on strong consumer spending and a surge in exports, the government said Wednesday, leaving unchanged its initial estimate of third-quarter growth

Joe Rogan Reminds Frustrated Dems That They Once ‘Had Me—I Was on Their Side’  —  POD SAVE THE DNC  —  The libertarian-leaning podcaster endorsed Donald Trump the day before this month's election after hosting him on his top-rated show.  —  Podbro-in-chief Joe Rogan marveled Tuesday …

Le Pen Will Learn in March If She's Banned From Next French Presidential Race  — Paris court announces planned date for verdict and sentencing  — Le Pen says she's ‘innocent’; prosecution seeks immediate ban  —  Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Rally party …

MSNBC Has Lost Nearly Half Its Audience Since the Election  —  BYE FOR NOW  —  Liberal viewers are apparently avoiding the news while conservatives tune in for a victory lap with Fox, the Nielsen ratings show.  —  MSNBC's audience has tanked since the election.

DEI has made America meaner  —  Diversity, equity, and inclusion has made society meaner — mean enough to accept Hitlerian terms when describing out-groups and seeking to exact revenge on perceived oppressors.  —  This was all common sense to many of us years ago, but it's nice …

Rudy Giuliani draws rebuke for a courtroom outburst accusing judge in assets case of being unfair  —  In an angry outburst in a New York courtroom, Rudy Giuliani accused a judge Tuesday of making wrong assumptions about him as he tries to comply with an order requiring him to turn …

Trump Cabinet nominees, appointees targeted with ‘violent, unAmerican threats’  —  The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting’”  —  EXCLUSIVE: Nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration …

Trump signs transition agreement with Biden, but it lacks key guardrails  —  The Trump team is still refusing to accept several typical trappings of the presidential transition process, including federal funding, equipment, office space or security.  —  The Trump transition team said Tuesday …