Axios reports: Americans send and receive more text messages on Christmas than any other day of the year, according to wireless carrier data shared with Axios. AT&T’s busiest day last year was Christmas. Group messages and photo or video messages were especially popular. It’s also the busiest day for T-Mobile, whose network saw 3 billion messages last year. Read the …

“I don’t even realize they’re going to try to put us in prison, arrest us, raid our apartments. I would have had  to turn my back on my client and double-cross him as, unfortunately, several people did. And when I was asked when I walked out of that verdict of $145 million, they said, do you regret anything? “And I …

Forbes reports: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said in a post on X she and her family were “swatted” on Christmas morning, marking the latest instance in which someone allegedly called in a fake emergency at the controversial lawmaker’s address, drawing a response from police. Greene did not elaborate on the alleged incident. Read the full article. I was just …

The Associated Press reports: This Congress started with showy bluster, a bitter 15-round, multi-day spectacle to elect a House speaker, a Republican who vowed to “never quit,” and then did just that. House lawmakers proceeded not only to oust the GOP speaker, they also punished their own colleagues with censures and expulsion, launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden …

“There were numerous legal and factual concerns about the 2020 presidential election. As the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with many others, I expressed concerns and investigated different allegations. The president has the right and duty, just like others involved in the process, to challenge the results. While I voted to certify the 2020 election, there were problems. …

The Washington Post reports: King Charles III’s annual festive address saw the British monarch posing next to a replantable tree festooned with dried oranges while delivering a message that acknowledged the “growing awareness” of the need to protect the planet. Charles is a noted conservationist known for his strong opinions on climate change. He also made sustainability a key point …

“Well, this country is mired in so much contradiction and confusion. We don’t even know how we can help anyone anymore because we can’t agree who needs help. I mean, what doesn’t come with a trigger warning these days? “I mean, Tucker, we are far too close to having a beanbag chair in the Oval Office. We coddled everybody. Okay? …

The New York Daily News reports: The NYPD is investigating disturbing bomb threats emailed to synagogues throughout the city on Christmas Eve Day, though the messages appear to be a hoax, cops said Sunday. Police described the threat as “not credible” but added, “we will continue to deploy resources to houses of worship around the city.” “These emails appear to …

The Associated Press reports: Gift cards get lost or forgotten, or recipients hang on to them for a special occasion. In a July survey, the consumer finance company Bankrate found that 47% of U.S. adults had at least one unspent gift card or voucher with an average value of $18. That’s a total of $23 billion. Every year, big companies …

CNN reports: Kristina Karamo – a former community college professor with limited political experience – became the head of the state party in February after pushing far-right election conspiracy theories and promising to end the party’s reliance on traditional wealthy donors. Now, some of the pro-Trump party members who voted Karamo into office have soured on her leadership and accuse …

The Daily Beast reports: The Senate fundraising arm of the Republican Party send blood pressure spiking on Christmas Eve in an attempt to juice a few more dollars out of the MAGA base.“Could Tucker Carlson be President Trump’s running mate?” read the subject line of a fundraising blast shortly after 3 p.m. on Sunday. The body of the email boasted …

Bloomberg News reports: Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its “instruments of death” that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for peace in the world and in particular between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to the throngs of people below, Francis said he grieved the “abominable attack” …

Posted to Trump’s Truth Social account: THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, LIED TO CONGRESS, CHEATED ON FISA, RIGGED A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ALLOWED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, MANY FROM PRISONS & MENTAL INSTITUTIONS, TO INVADE OUR COUNTRY, SCREWED UP IN AFGHANISTAN, & JOE BIDEN’S MISFITS & THUGS, LIKE DERANGED JACK SMITH, ARE COMING AFTER ME, AT LEVELS OF PERSECUTION NEVER SEEN BEFORE …

Variety reports: ‘Twas the weekend before Christmas and all through the theaters, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was the box office leader. The latest and final entry in the current iteration of the DC Comics universe got off to a less-than-splashy start with $13.7 million on opening day across 3,706 locations — getting a boost from showtimes in premium large …

This story makes its 20th annual appearance on JMG… Grand Central Terminal functions as the mechanical heart of midtown New York City, pumping out several thousand workers and tourists on one beat, then sucking in several thousand more on the next. The rhythms of the terminal are fascinating. Beat. Four thousand, inbound from New Haven. Beat. Three thousand, outbound to …

Religion News Service reports: Leaders of the International House of Prayer, an influential charismatic evangelical prayer and mission group based in Kansas City, announced Friday (Dec. 22) that they have cut ties with founder Mike Bickle. In late October a group of former IHOPKC leaders accused Bickle of a pattern of alleged clergy sexual misconduct. Earlier in December, Bickle admitted …

Florida Politics reports: “You deserve better than stressing over what you can afford for your family at Christmas, at Hannukah (SIC), or in the middle of the summer. You should never be under this much strain because of the leaders you trusted to elect,” DeSantis promised Saturday. “We will take back control of our destiny, and enjoy the financial freedom …

Courthouse News reports: A federal court in Wisconsin declined to dismiss a teacher’s First Amendment retaliation claim against the school district that fired her for publishing a tweet critical of its decision to prohibit her first-graders from singing “Rainbowland” by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton at a school concert. She has shown that her employment was terminated for exercising her …

The Associated Press reports: A conservative-led Missouri school board has voted to drop elective courses on Black history and literature, five months after the same board rescinded an anti-discrimination policy adopted in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. The Francis Howell School Board voted 5-2 Thursday night to stop offering Black History and Black Literature. In July, the …

The New York Times reports: Mr. DeSantis has slipped in some polls into third place, behind Nikki Haley, and has had to downsize his once-grand national ambitions to the simple hopes that a strong showing in a single state — Iowa — could vault him back into contention. For a candidate who talks at length about his own disinterest in …