House Approves $895b Defense Bill With Military Pay Raise, Ban On Transgender Care For Minors - The Associated Press

In the immediate aftermath of the New Year’s truck attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens in New Orleans, President-elect Donald Trump baselessly—and, it turns out, falsely—suggested that the Biden administration’s immigration policies were to blame. “When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump wrote on Truth Social just after 10:45 a.m.

Jeff Bezos and his companies have seemingly been doing everything they can to get into Donald Trump’s good graces before he returns to the Oval Office. This includes: Donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration via Amazon; Dining with Trump and Elon Musk recently at Mar-a-Lago; and, of course, spiking an editorial endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris slated to run in the Washington Post, which Bezos also owns—a decision that reportedly cost the Post as many as 300,000 subscribers who canceled in the immediate aftermath. As of this weekend, there appear to be new additions to this list.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) would not commit to voting against Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, despite his vow to conduct a revenge tour against MAGA opponents. During a Sunday interview on NBC, host Kristen Welker noted that Patel had written about getting retribution for several federal prosecutions of Trump. "The expectation is, and as the leader of the Senate, that we're going to get the president his people as quickly as possible in the key positions where he wants them," Thune promised. "Let me ask you about Kash Patel and his book," Welker said.

Alicublog: Roy Edroso breaks it down. Press Watch: Trump coverage needs to change, and here’s how. The Psy of Life: A guide to influencing your member of Congress and other government officials. Open Windows: Why I'm quitting The Washington Post, and the role of editorial cartooning in a free press. annieasksyou…: Ringing in the new year. This installment by Batocchio.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Sunday plans to sign into law a measure that boosts Social Security payments for current and former public employees, affecting nearly 3 million people who receive pensions from their time as teachers, firefighters, police officers and in other public service jobs. Advocates say the Social Security Fairness Act rights a decades-old disparity, though it will also put strain on Social Security Trust Funds, which face a looming insolvency crisis. The bill rescinds two provisions — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — that limit Social Security benefits for recipients if they get retirement payments from other sources, including public retirement programs from a state or local government. The Congressional Research Service estimated that in December 2023, there were 745,679 people, about 1% of all Social Security beneficiaries, who had their benefits reduced by the Government Pension Offset.

Why should Justice Merchan sentence Trump to jail when he can