Billboard Magazine reports: Aretha Franklin’s legacy is getting the proper Respect it deserves in a new clip from the forthcoming biopic about the late superstar’s life. The minute-long clip features Jennifer Hudson portraying the Queen of Soul as she belts out her world-famous signature song “Respect.” Following a couple of teasers and trailers, the new video is the first full-length …

The Associated Press reports: Republican lawmakers in Georgia have started a process that could lead to a takeover of elections in the state’s most populous county. Many in the GOP continue to claim wrongdoing in reliably Democratic Fulton County had stolen the 2020 election from Donald Trump, even though an independent monitor found no evidence of fraud or impropriety. Lawmakers …

The Verge reports: The Government Accountability Office squashed Blue Origin’s protest over NASA’s decision to pick a single lunar lander contractor, the agency said Friday, also denying a similar protest from Dynetics. The GAO’s decision keeps Blue Origin’s rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the sole winner of NASA’s lucrative Moon lander program and hands a loss to Jeff Bezos, whose space …

Salon reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, an ardent Trump supporter who was the lead plaintiff in a last-ditch Supreme Court case aimed at overturning the 2020 election, appears to be backing away from his past claims of widespread election fraud. Facing discipline or even potential disbarment in Texas, Paxton now merely alleges that there were “irregularities” in battleground states, …

Miami’s NBC News affiliate reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order today that effectively bans school systems from establishing mask mandates in response to rising COVID-19 cases. “I think that this decision about whether parents want their kids to have to wear masks all day at school, I think that’s a decision that falls squarely within the concord of …

This, of course, isn’t remotely surprising: Respondents to a Morning Consult poll published this week were asked “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of each of the following? White nationalists,” and although every group polled overwhelmingly held unfavorable views, Republican men expressed the highest level of support. Among all respondents, just 10% said they had a “Very favorable” …

Politico reports: A heated confrontation between Reps. Madison Cawthorn and David McKinley over co-sponsorship of a bill has escalated to a McKinley staffer filing an ethics complaint against Cawthorn, according to two sources familiar with the move. The spat began Thursday afternoon when the freshman Cawthorn (R-N.C.) went to find McKinley (R-W.Va.) in his office to discuss what Cawthorn said …

West Palm Beach’s ABC News affiliate reports: A husband and wife remain hospitalized on Friday at Jupiter Medical Center after contracting COVID-19. They both did not get vaccinated, and the wife is now sharing their story, hoping more people will take the virus seriously. Her husband has been put on a ventilator and is in critical condition. Juan is a …

The New York Times reports: Despite departing from office and being barred from the leading social media platforms, former President Donald J. Trump was the Republican Party’s most dominant fund-raiser in the early months of 2021, as committees affiliated with him collected more than $56 million online, according to campaign filings made late Friday. Mr. Trump raised far more money …

Law & Crime reports: A pro-Trump home remodeling contractor from Huntington Beach, California was busted by a fellow member of his “church prayer text group” after boasting about participating in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, the FBI alleged in a criminal complaint. Glenn Allen Brooks was arrested on Thursday in California, the DOJ said. “The surveillance video …

Axios reports: Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they’d support federal, state or local governments requiring everyone to get a coronavirus vaccine, according to a new survey conducted by The COVID States Project. Why it matters: This kind of blanket mandate hasn’t even been proposed, at any level of government. But more piecemeal requirements are rapidly becoming more popular, and the …

Mediaite reports: Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said that former President Donald Trump has been meeting with “cabinet members” at his New Jersey golf resort, mysteriously adding that they’re planning to “move forward in a real way.” On Friday night’s edition of Newsmax’s Cortes & Pellegrino, Meadows defended Trump’s failed endorsement in a Texas special election runoff, …

The Hill reports: The number of coronavirus cases in Florida has jumped 50 percent over the past week, officials said Friday, as the state that already makes up a large chunk of the nation’s total cases sees a surge in new infections. The Florida Department of Health said there were more than 110,000 new cases recorded this week, a jump …

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports: U.S. House member Madison Cawthorn had his gun taken by airport police and will likely face a federal fine and loss of a special security status, local and federal officials said. The Republican congressman representing Western North Carolina’s 11th District was attempting to board a plane Feb. 13 when Transportation Security Administration workers found an unloaded …

Reuters reports: Hungary’s National Election Committee (NEC) approved on Friday the government’s list of questions on LGBT issues it wants to put on a referendum as part of what Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called an “ideological war” with the European Union. Orban, a nationalist who has been in power since 2010, proposed a referendum on ruling party legislation that …

Newsweek reports: Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has said he is not in favor of vaccine mandates, though suggested an “incredibly deadly disease” could change his mind. Johnson was speaking to Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, who was guest hosting Laura Ingraham’s The Ingraham Angle on Friday, when he was asked about the possibility of requiring COVID vaccines. There have been than …

“Today the secretary of defense appeared in public wearing this costume. That’s Mr. Lloyd Austin, ladies and gentlemen, the man in charge of our weapons systems. “What’s he got on there? Is that a welder’s mask? Is it a dental visor? Has Lloyd Austin been cleaning teeth this morning? Nope. Looks like Lloyd Austin is just terrified of COVID. “Well …

Variety reports: Adam Driver and Lady Gaga shine as Mr. and Mrs. Gucci in the trailer for “House of Gucci,” hitting theaters on Nov. 24. The film, directed by Ridley Scott, details the assassination of Maurizio Gucci (Driver) and the downfall of the Gucci family fashion dynasty. Gaga plays socialite Patrizia Reggiani, Maurizio’s ex-wife who was tried and convicted of …

Via press release from hate group leader Tony Perkins: Joe Biden isn’t a doctor, and he’s certainly not your doctor. But that hasn’t stopped the president of the United States from making every Americans’ health decisions for them. The “scare-monger in chief,” as former Civil Rights Division leader Roger Severino calls him, has decided that when it comes to COVID, …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Biden administration sued Texas on Friday, asking a federal judge to block Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that state troopers pull over drivers transporting migrants who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19 as a way to prevent the spread of the virus. The lawsuit comes a day after the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a …