Special counsel Jack Smith resigns from DOJ  —  The special counsel's departure was disclosed in a court filing submitted Saturday afternoon to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.  —  Special counsel Jack Smith has completed his work on two criminal investigations of President-elect Donald Trump …

President Biden Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction to His Holiness Pope Francis  —  Today, President Biden spoke with His Holiness Pope Francis and named him as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction.  The Presidential Medal of Freedom …

Jeff Bezos' WaPo reeling from losses and ‘internal drama’ as Trump returns to DC: report  —  At a time when the always newsworthy Donald Trump is headed back to the White House, the venerable Washington Post should be gearing up to cover his second term but instead is being subjected to an exodus …

Mark Zuckerberg lies about content moderation to Joe Rogan's face … I'll spare you the experience of listening to one of the richest men in the world whine and just tell you straight out: Mark Zuckerberg's interview on The Joe Rogan Experience is full of lies.

Tulsa Massacre Was a ‘Coordinated, Military-Style Attack,’ Federal Report Says  —  The Justice Department's conclusion follows an investigation of the 1921 atrocity in Oklahoma in which up to 300 Black residents were killed.  —  The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, in which a prosperous Black neighborhood …

Scott Bessent, Trump's Billionaire Treasury Pick, Will Shed Assets to Avoid Conflicts  —  Financial disclosure forms show hundreds of millions of assets including property in the Bahamas and investments in Bitcoin and China's currency.  —  Scott Bessent, the billionaire hedge fund manager …

'There are a lot of bitter people here, I'm one of them': rust belt voters on why they backed Trump again despite his broken promises  —  Many in Youngstown, Ohio, believe the president-elect will tackle the town's decline this time.  Others are worried about his character flaws.

Scoop: Denmark sent Trump team private messages on Greenland … - Trump has repeatedly declared that controlling Greenland — the world's largest island — is necessary for U.S. national security vis-a-vis Russia and China. … - Climate change is opening up the Arctic for competition between superpowers …

O Canada, Come Join Us  —  My great-great-grandmother was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, and first saw the United States as a 10-year-old.  My great-grandfather was an Irish Canadian who married a Maine girl.  My wife's father was born in Ontario, descended from a long line of Newfoundlanders …

Trump charms GOP rebels at Mar-a-Lago, with Musk in tow  —  “Unity was a huge part” of the confab, one of several House GOP meetings the president-elect has scheduled this weekend.  —  Donald Trump is working to smooth over roadblocks to his massive legislative agenda this weekend at his Florida resort …

F.B.I. Briefs Top Senators on Armed Services Panel About Hegseth  —  The committee's Republican chairman and its top Democrat were briefed on F.B.I. findings into Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's defense secretary pick.  Democrats questioned whether there were gaps.

More than a dozen states have passed new laws that led to restrictions on pornography.  Now, the Supreme Court will weigh in  —  In Texas, Florida, and more than a dozen other states, users who try to access the world's largest pornography website are greeted by a surprising sight …

Trump border czar privately tempers Republican lawmaker expectations on administration's initial deportation operation  —  President-elect Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan has privately told Republican lawmakers to temper their expectations for the incoming administration's initial deportation operation …

The Second Time as Farce: Imperialism in the 21st Century  —  Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice.  He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.  — Karl Marx, “The Eighteen Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte”, 1851

In Congress, a Push for Proxy Voting for New Parents Draws Bipartisan Support … Representative Brittany Pettersen at the Capitol on Wednesday.Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times  —  Representative Brittany Pettersen, a second-term Colorado Democrat, was not planning to have a second child at the age of 43.

Supreme Court to examine stalled Biden plan cancelling debt for defrauded students  —  The U.S. Supreme Court said on Friday it will review a lower court's decision to block a Biden administration rule that helped forgive student debt held by borrowers who were defrauded by their colleges.

Playbook: Kamala Harris' zombie fundraising  —  With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  CALL IT THE 2028 BOWL — JD VANCE's Ohio State Buckeyes will meet PETE BUTTIGIEG's Notre Dame Fighting Irish in next Monday's college football national championship game in New Orleans.

Mike Pence Shares the First Thing He Said to Trump in Four Years … Though Mike Pence hadn't seen Donald Trump since leaving the White House, the former vice president said he was grateful to get a moment to speak with him at Jimmy Carter's state funeral this week.