Featured Stories

Biden says feds will cover 100% of fire response costs in Southern California

(CBS News) President Biden announced Thursday that for the next six months, the federal government will pay for 100% of the disaster response costs from the wildfires destroying neighborhoods across the greater Los Angeles area. The president also said he'll be asking Congress for more funding to help. Speaking from the White House during a briefing on the fires, the president said federal funding will cover things like removing debris, setting up temporary shelters, and paying first responders. Mr. Biden said he's surging all federal resources possible to Southern California, including 400 federal firefighters and 30 federal firefighting planes, among other assets. "I told the governor and local officials, spare no expense," Mr. Biden said, calling the damage "catastrophic."

Kamala Harris cancels foreign trip due to California wildfires

(Reuters) U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris canceled her upcoming trip to Singapore, Bahrain and Germany due to the ongoing wildfires in California, the White House said on Thursday after President Joe Biden made a similar decision a day earlier. Biden canceled an upcoming trip to Italy where he was due to meet Pope Francis, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Raskin calls for Alito to recuse himself from Trump case

(The Hill) Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from President-elect Trump’s hush money criminal case in a statement on Thursday. Raskin, in making his case, pointed to reporting that Alito and Trump spoke by phone “just hours” before Trump’s legal team asked the Supreme Court to intervene to halt his criminal sentencing in the New York case involving hush money payments before the 2016 election.

Appeals court denies bid to block public release of special counsel's report on Trump Jan. 6 probe

(AP) A federal appeals court on Thursday denied a bid to block the public release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a emergency challenge from Trump and his co-defendants in his classified documents case, who are fighting to keep the report under wraps because they say it’s one-sided and prejudicial.

Friday carTOONS

Donald Trump Jr.'s Ridiculous Greenland Trip Just Took a Dark Turn

(New Republic) A MAGA visit intended to make Greenland look pro–Donald Trump appears staged from the bottom up. The so-called tourism trip saw Donald Trump Jr., far-right political pundit Charlie Kirk, and Trump administration staffer Sergio Gor visit the self-governing Danish territory at a time when the president-elect has made some odd jokes and eyebrow-raising militaristic threats about buying Greenland. The trio’s presence on the island—and myriad photo ops with local residents—was not taken well by some of Greenland’s politicians, who slammed Don Jr.’s visit as a stunt to make the territory appear open to U.S. governance.

The U.S. Navy conducted a missing man formation flyover honoring President Jimmy Carter

NATO takes control from US of air defenses in Poland crucial to supporting Ukraine days before Trump takes office

(CNN) NATO has taken over air defenses in Poland from the US just days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, according to a NATO spokesman, with questions looming about the incoming administration’s approach to the alliance and to Ukraine. NATO assumed command and control from the US on Thursday, said Col. Martin O’Donnell, and will help to safeguard logistics nodes in Poland that are needed to continue delivering aid crucial to Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.

Civil rights groups warn Laken Riley bill could open the door to Trump's mass deportations

(The Independent) Immigration attorneys and civil rights groups warn that the first immigration bill of the new Congress is opening the door to Donald Trump’s planned “mass deportation operation” — his pledge to invoke a national emergency, deploy military assets and send state and local law enforcement into immigrant communities across the country within his first days in office.

Google and Microsoft donate $1m each to Trump's inaugural fund

(The Guardian) Google and Microsoft have donated $1m each to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, following in the footsteps of other major companies including Amazon, Meta, OpenAI and Uber. “Google is pleased to support the 2025 inauguration, with a livestream on YouTube and a direct link on our homepage. We’re also donating to the inaugural committee,” Karan Bhatia, Google’s global head of government affairs and public policy, confirmed in a statement to the Guardian on Thursday.