Reuters reports: An Oklahoma police chief is asking Starbucks to have mercy on a barista who plastered “PIG” on a police officer’s coffee order. “I just recently learned that the employee was terminated, and this may be a bit surprising, but I would like Starbucks to reconsider,” Keifer, Oklahoma, Police Chief Johnny O’Mara told Fox News. “I’m asking for civility.” …

From the right wing Washington Examiner: Growing concerns in conservative circles that liberals are trying to convert young Christians into socialists by distorting the Bible and U.S. Constitution have prompted Virginia’s Liberty University to form a new center to push back on the media, academics, and Democrats. The new think tank, announced Saturday in Lynchburg was co-founded by two key …

The military site Task & Purpose reports: A plan to boost the number of elite Navy SEAL platoons that could deploy across the globe remains in limbo months after the effort was halted by a string of high-profile scandals. The plan was viewed as a positive step toward meeting the demands placed on the highly trained community. More platoons could …

The Associated Press reports: This year’s Black Friday was the biggest ever for online sales, and Adobe Analytics says carts filled on phones, computers and tablets rang up $7.4 billion in transactions. That ranks just behind the $7.9 billion haul of last year’s Cyber Monday, which holds the one-day record for online sales. Adobe measures sales at 80 of the …

“Sarah Huckabee Sanders was treated like mud by many in the media when she was White House Press Secretary. “There is talk about her running for governor of Arkansas, and she told The Times this week that there’s a difference in someone who wants to be a senator or a governor and someone who is called to serve. She’s so …

Newsweek reports: 53% of Republicans believe that Donald Trump is a better president than Abraham Lincoln, according to a new poll. The Economist and YouGov published results of its latest polling on U.S. politics this week. One poll gauged Trump’s favorability versus Lincoln, who was the U.S. president between 1861 and 1865 and who steered America through the Civil War …

Variety reports: Kid Rock went a sexually explicit tirade went into against several female talk shows hosts on stage at his own Nashville bar this week, in a state the website TMZ described as “clearly intoxicated.” The video ends with him being helped off the lip of the stage in an awkward manner by handlers. “I’m like, Oprah Winfrey or …

CNN reports: “He’s a Rhodes Scholar. A successful mayor. A uniter,” says the narrator in a new television ad set to air in Iowa. But the ad, which will begin airing Tuesday in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, does not describe South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. “No, not that guy,” the narrator says, as an image of Buttigieg flashes …

The Washington Post reports: Declaring that the U.S.-Taliban talks he abruptly canceled in September are back in motion, Trump said during a Thanksgiving Day visit to troops in Afghanistan that the Taliban “wants to make a deal. And we’re meeting with them, and we’re saying it has to be a cease-fire.” “They didn’t want to do a cease-fire, but now …

Reuters reports: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro claimed on Friday that Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio financed fires being set in the Amazon rainforest, without presenting any evidence, the right-wing leader’s latest broadside in casting blame over forest fires that have generated international concern. Bolsonaro appeared to be commenting on social media postings claiming that the environmental organization the World Wildlife Fund …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: The day after teasing its world premiere on Twitter, Kanye West dropped the music video for “Closed on Sunday,” the fourth track from his latest gospel-rap album, Jesus Is King, today. The song includes multiple references to famous fast food outlet Chick-fil-A, which is traditionally closed Sundays. The bizarre video, a little less than three minutes …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Gov. Brian Kemp plans to tap financial executive Kelly Loeffler for a U.S. Senate seat next week as he pushes to expand the Georgia GOP’s appeal to women who have fled the party in recent years. The appointment would defy President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders who have repeatedly urged the governor to appoint U.S. …

The Associated Press reports: A Florida man has been arrested for the second time this month for trying to bring a loaded gun through a TSA checkpoint. TSA officials say the unidentified man was arrested at Syracuse Hancock International Airport on Thursday after he was caught at a checkpoint with a loaded gun in his luggage. TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein …

Talking Points Memo: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal acolytes, threatened Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) with a primary challenger in 2022 should he not select Trump’s preferred candidate for a soon-to-be-open Senate seat. It is not clear from where Gaetz, a congressman from Florida, gets the authority to threaten the Georgia governor with a …

Politico reports: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) has informed President Trump that he has until Dec. 6 to let the committee know whether his counsel will participate in upcoming impeachment proceedings. “I am writing to determine if your counsel will participate in the upcoming impeachment proceedings. In particular, please provide the Committee notice of whether your counsel intends …

Newsweek reports: President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani branded the impeachment inquiry worse than the McCarthyism of the 1950s and called it a “frame-up.” Giuliani is under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in part because of his activities in Ukraine. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has hit multiple Giuliani associates with subpoenas in recent weeks, The …

The New York Times reports: About 80,000 babies and toddlers die of AIDS each year, mostly in Africa, in part because their medicines come in hard pills or bitter syrups that are very difficult for small children to swallow or keep down. But on Friday, the Indian generic drug manufacturer Cipla announced a new, more palatable pediatric formulation. The new …

The Hill reports: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today knocked fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A over a past donation the chain made to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). “If true, @ChickfilA has badly lost its way,” Cruz tweeted, linking to a Breitbart article about the donation from 2017. “Millions of Christians have been proud of ChickFilA’s courageous stands for religious liberty. To …

The Daily Beast reports: The tattoo of a shoulder-to-shoulder Nazi eagle above a swastika spanning the back of Francesca Rizzi leaves little to the imagination about her political ideology. The 36-year-old winner of an online beauty pageant in which she was crowned “Miss Hitler” was one of 19 people across Italy put under formal investigation this week for illegally forming …

NBC News reports: A number of people were injured in a stabbing near London Bridge in the center of the British capital on Friday afternoon, police said. One man has been arrested amid a major police incident that has cordoned off the busy surrounding area and closed local bus, subway stations and train stations. The incident on London Bridge was …