CNN reports: Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will be senior adviser to the president, a senior transition official told CNN Monday. The 35-year-old businessman-turned-political strategist played a key part in his father-in-law’s presidential campaign and his new position is expected to test the limit of federal anti-nepotism rules. The move comes ahead of a Wednesday news conference in which Trump …

Politico reports: Secretary of State John Kerry is formally apologizing to gay, lesbian and other employees of the State Department who faced past discrimination because of their sexual orientation. The apparently unprecedented apology, issued in a statement Monday, is the latest step that the Obama administration has taken to promote inclusion of the LGBT community in its ranks. It comes …

Collider reports: A surprise new NSFW trailer for Paramount Pictures’ Baywatch hit the net today. While there’s plenty of eye candy on display, the only reason this international trailer is NSFW and not straight-up red-band is that there are a few F bombs dropped, reminding us that this is, indeed, an R-rated comedy. But this new cut teases a film …

In his anti-Streep rant to New York Times today, Donald Trump diverted with some delirious bragging that all of Washington DC’s “dress shops” are sold out of inauguration gowns. Not even close. The Washington Post reports: Definitely not, said Martha Slagle, vice president and general manager of the Neiman Marcus in Friendship Heights. If a ball attendee were to walk …

The Huffington Post reports: Republicans are plowing forward this month with repealing the Affordable Care Act, and Democrats, with little ability to stop them, have plans to make it as politically damaging for them as possible. On Monday night, Senate Democrats plan to stay up late, delivering floor speeches and Facebook Live broadcasts attacking the Republicans’ drive to dismantle President …

LOL. Via Mediaite: Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway faced a grueling interview today where she was confronted by one of the mogul’s most enduring and controversial political moments. “That is not what he did,” Conway said when asked if what Trump did was wrong. Cuomo brought up how Trump can deny mocking Kovaleski’s arthrogryposis as much as he wants, and …

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean last night tweeted his approval of a New York Times opinion piece on the continuing advertiser boycott of Breitbart. From the article: In mid-November, a Twitter group called Sleeping Giants became the hub of the new movement. The Giants and their followers have communicated with more than 1,000 companies and nonprofit groups whose …

Kellyanne Conway is truly the unchallenged Queen Of Diversion: On “Fox & Friends,” Conway wondered aloud why Streep had used her time on stage to attack Trump’s supposed mockery of a disabled individual and not to call attention to the more recent case from Chicago, where four people were arrested last week for allegedly torturing a teenager with special needs …

The International Business Times reports: The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom posted a tweet Monday featuring the image of an odd cartoon frog, which, at first glance, would seem harmless enough. But that frog, in internet parlance, has become a meme employed by white supremacists and is defined as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Wrote Russia’s …

The Falls River Herald News reports: Should President-elect Donald Trump move forward with plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson would like inmates from the Bristol County House of Correction to do some of the work. “I can think of no other project that would have such a positive impact on our inmates …

World Net Daily this morning excitedly linked to this story on Breaking Israel News: Roni Alsheikh, the Israeli Commissioner of Police, announced last week that his department of law enforcement personnel is preparing for the arrival of the Messiah in a truly unique way. Alsheikh was filmed at a celebration held by Chabad Hasidim in his neighborhood of Givat Shmuel, …

Raw Story reports: An Arkansas Republican lawmaker has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he personally profited from an elaborate bribery and kickback scheme involving a northwest Arkansas evangelical Christian college. Hemant Mehta at The Friendly Atheist pointed to the rapidly mushrooming scandal which the Arkansas Times said could land state Rep. Michah Neal behind bars for up …

You KNEW he couldn’t resist. Via Politico: Donald Trump piled onto actress Meryl Streep in a Monday morning flurry of posts to his Twitter account, writing that she is “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a Hillary flunky who lost big.” Without mentioning Trump by …

Meryl Streep tonight accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes and devoted her acceptance speech to eviscerating Donald Trump, whom she never mentioned by name. A partial transcript from her speech: As an actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us, and let you feel what that feels like, and …

One of my all-time favorite books. Cosmo recaps: Our first look at Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian classic The Handmaid’s Tale is finally here! Hooray! And also: SHIT THIS IS DEPRESSING. The show stars Mad Men’s phenomenal Elisabeth Moss as Offred, a “handmaid” in Gilead, a horrifying future place where fertile young woman are forced into sexual slavery …

Mediaite reports: Fox News host Sean Hannity tweeted his enthusiastic agreement Sunday when someone tweeted at him that Americans should work together to “make Russia great again.” Hannity was responding to a tweet from an account called “Donnie L’il Hands,” which he apparently did not realize was mocking him and Donald Trump. Hannity has come under fire in recent days …

Business Insider reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming chief of staff accepted on Sunday that Russia was behind last year’s hacking and leaking of internal emails from top officials at the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace, Reince Priebus acknowledged that Trump “accepts the fact that this particular case was …

New York Magazine reports: Martin Shkreli has been tweeting all morning at writer Lauren Duca, who caught his attention after she schooled human bow tie Tucker Carlson on his own show a few weeks ago. He apparently direct messaged her a few days ago to ask her to be his plus one to the inauguration, despite the fact that she’s …

Politico reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday rebuffed Democratic calls to slow down rapid confirmation of Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, even after a nonpartisan federal watchdog raised “great” concerns about moving ahead with hearings for nominees without their ethics reviews completed. Walter Shaub, the director of the independent Office of Government Ethics, laid out his warning in a …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Arnon “Noni” Mozes, publisher of Israel’s Yedioth Ahronot newspaper, is reportedly at the center of the corruption investigation against Prime Benjamin Netanyahu. According to a Channel 2 report on Sunday, Mozes sought to receive financial benefits for Yedioth Ahronoth and possibly the closure of Israel Hayom‘s weekend edition newspaper in exchange for favorable coverage. Israel Hayom …