From the Justice Department: Two men – including the founder of the Hawaii chapter of the Proud Boys – were each sentenced today to four years in prison for their actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain …

NBC News reports: Kari Lake, the GOP candidate who lost Arizona’s governor race in November, filed a lawsuit Friday challenging certification of the state’s election results and seeking a court order that declares her the winner. The 70-page lawsuit from Lake, a prominent election denier and Trump ally, contains numerous inaccuracies about the election won by Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s …

Yahoo Sports reports: Grant Wahl, a prominent U.S. soccer journalist with previous experience working for CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated, died in Qatar on Friday, according to his wife and U.S. Soccer. Wahl, who was 48, had been in Qatar working as an independent journalist through his Substack “Fútbol with Grant Wahl.” Yahoo Sports soccer reporter Henry Bushnell was present …

Deadline reports: In the midst of his massive farewell tour, Sir Elton John took the time to say another goodbye this morning. “I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked,” John wrote on Twitter. “All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it …

ABC News reports: A federal judge in Washington declined to hold former President Donald Trump or his legal team in contempt of court following a court hearing Friday as the Justice Department had requested, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The judge instead urged the Justice Department and Trump’s legal team to resolve the dispute themselves, the sources …

The Hill reports: The brother of former Marine Paul Whelan, who has been imprisoned in Russia for nearly four years, slammed former President Trump on Friday after Trump criticized the Biden administration for the deal it struck to free WNBA star Brittney Griner but not Whelan. David Whelan said in a post on Twitter that Trump seems to have mentioned his …

Law & Crime reports: A Donald Trump supporter who brought multiple weapons to Washington, D.C. ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, and shouted at law enforcement officers that they were “going to die” and to “get out of the way” as rioters marauded through the building that day has been sentenced to more than five years in prison. Ronald Sandlin, 35, …

The Florida Times-Union reports: Kent Stermon, an influential Northeast Florida Republican political donor and a member of the Board of Governors, died Thursday night. He was 50. Stermon was president of Total Military Management, a logistics firm that re-locates members of the armed services, and both through political donations and personal relationships, particularly with Gov. Ron DeSantis, had become a …

The Miami Herald reports: Florida’s State Board of Education will meet next week to scrutinize whether 10 school districts — including Miami-Dade, Broward and Hillsborough counties — are carrying out the state’s parental rights law. The state put the districts on notice last month when it sent letters detailing the policies that each of their districts “may not comport with …

The right wing Washington Examiner reports: A group of Indiana Republicans drafted a censure letter and sent it to Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) after he voted in favor of passing a bill that would codify same-sex marriage into federal law. The Cass County Republican Party censured the Indiana senator in a letter that was sent on Thursday, expressing disappointment in …

“I think the larger theme here is that Christianity is becoming offensive to a lot of Americans. And so you look at Kirk Cameron story, he wrote a Brave Books about biblical faith issues and libraries kept him out of doing a story hour. “However, they let drag queen story hours come into the library. And so there is an …

From the American Family Association: One of the 12 traitorous Republican senators who voted for the Respect for Marriage Act is finding a not-so-warm welcome back in her home state, where a conservative leader predicts Joni Ernst’s political future is up in the air after she rejected bedrock religious beliefs about marriage. One could have predicted the GOP’s most liberal …

“Aunt Vicky, that’s just not right. Institutions of faith like religious universities are not being silenced. “They’re being empowered by the U.S. government to discriminate against tens of thousands of LGBTQ students because of religious exemptions, but they still receive federal funding. “It’s more like you want the power to force your religious beliefs onto everyone else and because you …

The Christian Post reports: Notable Bible teacher and author John Piper said this week that modern-day Christians should not “rule out” the New Testament command for followers of Christ to give each other a “holy kiss.” In a “Look at the Book” video posted to YouTube on Thursday, Piper examined if Christians should still give greetings to each other through …

Axios reports: Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is “thinking of running” for U.S. Senate, according to a fundraising text his campaign sent out on Friday. The text comes just hours after Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced she is leaving the Democratic Party to sit as an independent, which roiled Arizona Democrats already infuriated with the centrist senator. “Ruben Gallego here, humbly …

The Hill reports: Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday announced he will let Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) keep her committee assignments after she dropped her affiliation with the Democratic Party and said she would identify as an Independent. Schumer added Sinema’s decision will not affect Democratic control of the Senate’s committees, including the power to issue subpoenas and …

The Daily Beast reports: Former GOP congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik’s defamation lawsuit against right-wing provocateur Candace Owens, who accused Klacik of being a strip club “madame” who spent campaign funds on cocaine, has been tossed out by a Tennessee judge with prejudice. Not only is Klacik unable to file similar complaints against Owens going forward, but the judge also granted …

The Huffington Post reports: A week into December, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is emailing residents that their heat is about to get cut off — except the alarmist messages from his campaign are actually just misleading fundraising pitches. “Your heat will be turned off. Emergency Notice,” reads an unsettling email notification a South Carolina resident received on their phone on …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: A criminal case brought against a South Florida resident for allegedly voting illegally in the 2020 election is now the third case to be dismissed in Miami-Dade County, just months after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a slew of statewide arrests and that prosecutions soon would be coming. Ronald Lee Miller, 57, of Miami, was one …

The Hill reports: Anthony Fauci in an interview with the BBC blasted the “cowardly” internet trolls who harass his wife and children, saying it’s a part of the backlash he’s experienced over the COVID-19 pandemic. “These people who troll about, they harass my wife and my children because they can figure out where they live and what their phone number …