The Associated Press reports: A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order barring removal of a memorial to Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. A group called Defend Arlington, affiliated with a group called Save Southern Heritage Florida, filed a lawsuit Sunday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, seeking the restraining order. A hearing has been scheduled for …

From the Justice Department: A Florida woman has been arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges related to her conduct during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Her actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election. Barbara …

The Hill reports: Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) has a message for his ex-colleagues in Congress, saying he’ll “outlive them.” “I’ll be back,” the New York Republican said in an interview with comedian Ziwe, released Monday. “I’m 35. They’re all in their 50s. I’ll outlive them,” Santos told the political satirist, whose full name is Ziwe Fumudoh. “Each and every …

Florida Politics reports: City hall flagpoles around Florida could lose some color if a bill by Rep. David Borrero passes in the upcoming Session. Borrero, a Sweetwater Republican, refiled a proposal (HB 901) that would prohibit local governments and agencies from flying the LGBTQ pride flag or any other banner representing a social or political position. “The government agency must …

“He called that rally knowing that that was going to be in D.C. where things could get potentially out of hand, and he’s now saying he would do clemency for the nonviolent. But he could have done that when he was president. He could have taken responsibility. “He could have said that — not the violent people, obviously that’s a …

The Guardian reports: As he reached the end of his 41-year life, Kevin Portier had endured child rape at the hands of a southern Louisiana Catholic priest for whom he had served as an altar boy; a highly publicized trial that sent the clergyman to prison for the rest of his days; and the trauma associated with those experiences. But …

The Washington Post reports: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has launched a new campaign ad calling President Biden “too old,” in one of the most direct attacks on the president’s age this election cycle. “I’ll just say it: Biden’s too old,” Haley, 51, says in the ad. “And Congress is the most exclusive nursing home in America.” The new ad, …

The Messenger reports: Target’s new self-checkout policy has been met with criticism online, as customers complain that the 10-items-or-less limit is creating problems due to the store’s lack of staff. When this new policy was introduced in late November, John Mulligan, chief operations officer at Target, said it was meant to create shorter wait times for customers. However, for some, …

“How can Lindsey Graham in Washington, D.C. on Meet the Press say that he hasn’t seen a smoking gun of evidence, that he doesn’t think that we produced enough evidence to impeach Joe Biden? Let me ask the American people, do you think that we have produced enough evidence to impeach Joe Biden? Well, I think somebody better run for …

ProPublica reports: In early January 2000, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at a five-star beach resort in Sea Island, Georgia, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. After almost a decade on the court, Thomas had grown frustrated with his financial situation, according to friends. At the resort, Thomas gave a speech at an off-the-record conservative conference. He found …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new document explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it. The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, released Monday, elaborates on a letter Francis …

USA Today reports: As the Sarasota County School Board convened for the final time this year on Tuesday, Bridget Ziegler entered the board chambers facing a rift largely driven by agenda item No. 1: a colleague’s resolution calling for her resignation. Zander Moricz, who was the class president at Pine View School in Osprey and now attends Harvard, said Bridget …

The Guardian reports: The social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is being investigated for allegedly breaking EU law on disinformation, illegal content and transparency, the European Commission has announced. The decision to launch formal infringement proceedings against the company, owned by the US billionaire Elon Musk, comes weeks after X was asked to provide evidence of compliance with new laws …

The Washington Post reports: Artificial intelligence is automating the creation of fake news, spurring an explosion of web content mimicking factual articles that instead disseminates false information about elections, wars and natural disasters. Since May, websites hosting AI-created false articles have increased by more than 1,000 percent, ballooning from 49 sites to more than 600, according to NewsGuard, an organization …

The Daily Beast reports: A car crashed into part of President Joe Biden’s security detail in Delaware on Sunday night. The president and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, were unharmed. As Biden was walking to a waiting SUV, a silver sedan with Delaware plates appeared and slammed into another Secret Service vehicle that was protecting the motorcade. “There was …

“He was talking about the border. He was talking about people coming from other countries, coming from prisons. And they wanted to focus on all the Sunday shows, Lawrence, on the word he used ‘poison.’ He’s just trying to say we want to keep America, America. We want to build up the border and find out who’s coming in and …

CNN Business reports: BP said Monday that it would pause all shipments through the Red Sea because of increased attacks on vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen. “In light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping in the Red Sea, BP has decided to temporarily pause all transits through the Red Sea,” the company said in a statement. “We will …

Portland’s Fox affiliate reports: A 46-year-old former pastor at a church in Aurora was indicted Wednesday on 16 counts of sexual assault, and at least some of the victims were children, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday. According to deputies, Seferino Tosie’s victims attended Missionary Memorial Church in Aurora where he worked as a pastor. Following his indictment, another …

The Independent reports: Kari Lake gave a ranting speech this weekend in which she labelled herself a “proud election-denying deplorable” before urging young supporters to procreate and calling Anthony Fauci an “evil elf.” Ms Lake called Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs a “nutjob” on Sunday at AmericaFest, a Turning Point USA conference of conservatives that was held in Phoenix. She added: …

Reuters reports: Eight European diplomats interviewed by Reuters said there were doubts about whether Trump would honor Washington’s commitment to defend NATO allies and acute fears he would cut off aid to Ukraine amid its war with Russia. One diplomat, whose country is a NATO member, and one other diplomat in Washington said their missions have outlined in diplomatic cables …