Variety reports: Kevin Spacey posted a Christmas-themed YouTube video, marking the third year in a row that he has shared clips to his channel. This year’s video, titled “1-800 XMAS,” was a more somber affair than past years, offering compassion to people struggling over the holiday season. The videos first began in 2018 in the midst of felony charges Spacey …

Raw Story reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spent Christmas Day on the golf course with President Donald Trump after vetoing the defense funding bill. After signing off on several pieces of COVID-19 legislation and a massive tax break for corporations and the wealthy, Graham has suddenly discovered that there’s a national debt concern. George Will writes at the Washington Post: …

Law & Crime reports: Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Tiger King star Joe Exotic, is hoping to join the ranks of Paul Manafort and Roger Stone by landing himself a presidential pardon before Donald Trump leaves office next month. To that end, the self-described “gay, gun-toting redneck” and former Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate has dropped his lawsuit against the DOJ, telling …

The New York Post reports: “Club Kid Killer” Michael Alig — the famously flamboyant party promoter who ended up busted for murder — has been found dead of a suspected drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment, officials said Friday. The 54-year-old former scene fixture and convict was discovered by a friend just before midnight Christmas Eve in his Washington Heights …

Reuters reports: More than 4,500 lorries, among a huge backlog of trucks stranded for days in the British port of Dover, crossed the Channel on Friday after extra troops were deployed to step up coronavirus testing, a minister said. Ferry services between Dover and the French port of Calais resumed on Thursday, ending a blockade France had imposed for several …

“For the past 10 months, millions of Americans have been praying to God asking for relief from this pandemic, and I believe God has answered that prayer through these vaccines. I’m calling these vaccines an early Christmas present from God, and it shouldn’t surprise us that God would use science to bring healing into our world. “I mean, after all, …

Law & Crime reports: Rep. Devin Nunes on Christmas Eve received the legal equivalent of a lump of coal in his stocking: a federal district court judge in DC dismissed a defamation case Nunes launched against The Washington Post and writer Shane Harris. Thus, Nunes, the perennial loser of lawsuits, lost yet again. The case is but one of several …

Nashville’s ABC News affiliate reports: A large explosion was reported in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning. The explosion happened in the area of Second Avenue and Broadway near Commerce Street occurred around 6:30 am Friday. Heavy black smoke could be seen rising above the affected area. MNPD, FBI, and ATF are investigating the explosion of an RV outside 166 2nd …

The New York Daily News reports: A spokesman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis deleted his Twitter account Thursday after sending yet another controversial tweet about the coronavirus pandemic. Fred Piccolo responded to Reuters editor Corrine Perkins at around 4 a.m. Thursday, South Florida NPR affiliate WLRN reported. Perkins had shared a series of photos showing trauma at hospitals during the …

NBC News reports: Senate Republicans say Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will reach out to Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) in an attempt to avoid a messy floor fight next month over finalizing the results of the Electoral College vote. Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said GOP leaders will tell Tuberville that voting to suspend the tally of the Electoral …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s ineffectual bid to persuade the courts to overturn his defeat at the polls last month suffered another defeat on Christmas Eve as a federal appeals court rejected his attempt to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s win by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin. A three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously dismissed arguments …

ABC News reports: Pope Francis made a Christmas Day plea for authorities to make Covid-19 vaccines available to all, insisting that the first in line should be the most vulnerable and needy, regardless of who holds the patents for the shots. “Vaccines for everybody, especially for the most vulnerable and needy,” who should be first in line, Francis said in …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump has been tweeting furiously this Christmas about his quest to overturn the 2020 election, even going so far as to threaten Republican leadership he sees as insufficiently helpful. While a number of Republicans have backed Trump’s baseless claim the election was stolen from him by Joe Biden, leadership has mostly ignored his charge. Senate Majority …

Reuters reports: Nearly 2.1 million people have cast ballots in a U.S. Senate runoff election in Georgia that will determine whether Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the fate of President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda, according to state data published Thursday. Turnout has been higher in some of the heavily populated areas around Atlanta that delivered Biden a narrow victory …

The Washington Post reports: The Washington Post identified the witness by determining that portions of her affidavit match, sometimes verbatim, a blog post that the pro-Trump podcaster Terpsichore Maras-Lindeman published in November 2019. In a recent civil fraud case, attorneys for the state of North Dakota said that Maras-Lindeman falsely claimed to be a medical doctor and to have both …

Forbes reports: Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos said on CNN Thursday the company will “definitely” be taking legal action for defamation against those who have spread a false conspiracy theory claiming the company’s voting machines were used to perpetrate election fraud, even suggesting the company’s litigation could extend to Trump, as the company’s attorneys issue a blitz of letters …

The New York Daily News reports: A couple who lied about their business in order to score a $7.2 million PPP loan in late May used the funds to buy a $3.5 million, seven-bedroom house, and several expensive cars, according the federal government. Don Cisternino and his partner, Lori Quasky, allegedly claimed their company, MagnifiCo, had an average monthly payroll …

The Hill reports: Pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell said Thursday that the president’s aides are preventing her from being in contact with President Trump and coordinating his efforts to overturn election results. “I’ve been blocked from speaking to or communicating with the president since I left the Oval Office on Friday night,” Powell told Zenger’s David Martsoko, “by apparently everyone around …

Fox News reports: President Trump launched his latest attack against Twitter on Christmas Eve, accusing the company of “going wild with their flags” and “trying hard to suppress even the truth,” referring to his continued baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Trump also reiterated his call to end Section 230, a provision in the Communications Decency …

USA Today reports: The United States will require air passengers traveling from the United Kingdom to provide a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of departure, the CDC  announced late Thursday. The move comes as a growing number of countries banned British travelers amid the rapid spread of a new variant of coronavirus in London and elsewhere. Earlier this week, …