Reuters reports: The U.S. State Department has told refugee agencies it will sharply pare back the number of offices across the country authorized to resettle people in 2018 as President Donald Trump cuts the number of refugees allowed into the United States. The announcement was made at a Dec. 1 meeting in Washington with State Department officials and representatives from …

Variety reports: The FCC is slapping Sinclair Broadcast Group with a $13.4 million fine for running news stories on a cancer foundation but failing to disclose that the foundation was paying for them to air. The FCC said that the programming was broadcast more than 1,700 times, “either as stories resembling independently generated news coverage that aired during the local …

Talking Points Memo reports: The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that despite the Trump administration’s many attempts to undermine and weaken the Affordable Care Act, enrollment in the federal health care marketplace nearly reached last year’s total of 9.2 million, clocking in at 8.8 million. Considering that the Trump administration cut the length of the open enrollment …

The Hill reports: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley issued thanks to the countries that did not vote for a U.N. resolution condemning the U.S.’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Haley on Thursday sent invitations to a January reception to the eight countries that voted no on the resolution, as well as the 35 …

The Associated Press reports: Papa John’s founder John Schnatter will step down as CEO next month, about two months after he criticized the NFL leadership over national anthem protests by players — comments for which the company later apologized. Schnatter will be replaced as chief executive by Chief Operating Officer Steve Ritchie on Jan. 1, the company announced Thursday. Schnatter, …

The Anchorage Daily News reports: A bearded, tattooed and silent Track Palin sat in a Palmer courtroom today as a judge signed off on house arrest for charges from Palin’s assault on his father Saturday. Palin, 28, was arrested by Wasilla police Saturday after his mother, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, called them for help. He is charged with felony …

“Why can’t Christians have the freedom to say ‘No’ to what they want to say no to? The LGBT community continues to target Christians to try to get us to accept their lifestyle. It ain’t gonna happen. God calls homosexuality sin — take it up with Him if you don’t like it. He is the one who defines sin, not …

Vanity Fair reports: In private conversations since leaving the White House, Bannon said Trump only has a 30 percent chance of serving out his term, whether he’s impeached or removed by the Cabinet invoking the 25th amendment. That prospect seemed to become more likely in early December when special counsel Robert Mueller secured a plea deal from former national security …

Media Matters reports: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Roger Stone, a conservative pundit who has advised President Donald Trump for decades, visited a shooting range to fire weapons in preparation for a civil war in the event Trump is removed from office. The visit was documented in a nearly one-and-half-hour-long December 19 video posted to Jones’ YouTube channel with the …

Reuters reports: A federal appeals court in Virginia on Thursday rejected a bid by President Donald Trump’s administration to prevent the U.S. military from accepting transgender recruits starting Jan. 1. The administration had urged the appeals court to suspend an order by a lower court judge for the armed forces to begin accepting transgender recruits on that date. The administration …

Variety reports: A new musical spectacle opens its curtains in the sequel to Universal’s Mamma Mia!. The follow-up, Mamma Mia!, Here We Go Again, debuted its trailer on Thursday. Ten years after the original film hit theaters, the upcoming sequel welcomes the return of Amanda Seyfried as Sophie, who reveals she is pregnant but nervous to be a single mom. …

Via Fox News Insider: White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders maintained on Thursday that President Trump will not fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. She was asked by Bill Hemmer about a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday by Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, who warned of a “constitutional crisis” if Trump moves to end Mueller’s investigation. “In recent days, …

Jared Holt reports at Right Wing Watch: Tony Perkins, president of the anti-LGBTQ group Family Research Council, urged FRC Action members to join him in praying that God grants wisdom and protection to President Trump and to display a “PRAY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP” bumper sticker on their vehicles so others do the same.  Perkins begins a fundraising letter dated December …

The New York Daily News reports: Mayor de Blasio gave his blessing Thursday to a deal that is likely to make Councilman Corey Johnson the next City Council speaker. Johnson, a Manhattan Democrat, sewed up the backing Wednesday of the Queens and Bronx county Democratic leaders, who brought with them support from enough Council members to give him the win. …

The New York Times reports: The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations delivered a stinging rebuke to the United States on Thursday, denouncing its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and ignoring President Trump’s bombastic threats of revenge. In what amounted to a collective act of defiance toward Washington, ambassadors of the 193-member General Assembly voted 128 to 9, …

NBC News reports: On the orders of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Justice Department prosecutors have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now dormant criminal investigation into a controversial uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton, multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News. The interviews with FBI agents are part of …

USA Today reports: The city of Memphis sold two public parks containing Confederate monuments to a nonprofit Wednesday in a massive, months-in-the-planning operation to take the statues down overnight. The City Council unanimously approved the sale of Health Science Park, home of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, and its easement on Fourth Bluff Park, home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, …

CNN reports: US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley issued a direct threat to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, saying that the US will think twice about funding the world body if it votes against President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. “The United States will remember this day in which it was …

But you knew that already. The Washington Post reports: President Trump, who won the White House on a wave of populist promises, will likely save millions of dollars, thanks to Congress’s approval of a tax plan he pledged was designed for the middle class. Trump, who said he would be a “big loser” if the bill passed, stands to gain …

Raw Story reports: Ivanka Trump was blasted on Twitter on Thursday after she appeared on Fox & Friends to applaud the Republican tax bill as a win for the “middle class” and predicted that it would eventually erase the federal deficit. After the hosts of Fox & Friends praised the president’s daughter for her role in passing the tax bill, …