Jacksonville’s CBS affiliate reports: A bill filed ahead of the upcoming Florida legislative session could potentially allow people to obtain firearms either before three-day waiting period expires or before their background check clears, undoing a key piece of the gun safety legislation passed after the Parkland Shooting. Prior to that legislation the three-day waiting period only applied to handgun sales, …

The Christian Post reports: Evangelist Franklin Graham criticized Christianity Today on Wednesday after the magazine his father founded published an article claiming that Jesus Christ was Asian. In a Dec. 18 article by art curator Victoria Emily Jones titled “How Asian Artists Picture Jesus’ Birth From 1240 to Today,” CT showcased how Jesus has been depicted by various Asian cultures, …

“From a party perspective, we certainly don’t think it was the best move. We felt that she was best suited for Congressional District 3 and that she was in the best position to win reelection and retain that for Republicans. “Time will tell whether or not we’re right, but I think she’s got a serious challenge on her hands, trying …

The Associated Press reports: Donald Wildmon, the founder of the American Family Association, a conservative Christian advocacy group, has died, the organization announced Thursday. The 85-year-old Mississippi native died on Thursday from complications related to Lewy body dementia, an obituary published by WTVA-TV said. Wildmon died in Tupelo, Mississippi, the city where the American Family Association is based. The obituary …

Reuters reports: Elon Musk’s X on Thursday failed to block a California state law that requires social media companies to publicly disclose how they moderate certain content on their platforms. X, formerly known as Twitter, in September sued California to undo the content moderation law, saying the law violated its free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and …

The Messenger reports: Donald Trump’s supporters exploded Thursday evening following Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ ruling removing the former president from the state’s Republican primary. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung ripped Bellows as a “virulent leftist” who’s now “interfering” in the election, and said the campaign will quickly appeal the decision. “We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft …

“I’m opposed to taking down statues. The idea that we’re going to just erase history is wrong. You’ve seen it now where they tried to take down Thomas Jefferson, they tried to take down George Washington off schools. It just gets so out of hand. So I don’t support taking down statues, particularly if you don’t have legal authority to …

The Insider reports: GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley says she’d pardon Donald Trump if she wins in 2024. “I would pardon Trump if he is found guilty,” Haley said at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Thursday, per NBC News. “A leader needs to think about what’s in the best interest of the country,” Haley continued. “What’s in the …

The Daily Beast reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has met the 1,000-signature threshold necessary to propel him onto the presidential ballot in Utah, according to state authorities, making it the first state to offer the independent candidate as an option to general election voters. Every state has its own requirements for independent and third-party candidates to qualify for its ballot, …

CBS News reports: California’s secretary of state declined to remove Donald Trump from the presidential primary ballot despite a call for her to do so from the state’s lieutenant governor. Dr. Shirley Weber did not immediately issue a comment on her decision to include Trump after her office released the list of certified candidates on Thursday night. Last week, Weber …

The New York Times reports: Former President Donald J. Trump’s rivals in the Republican race for president again lined up in his defense on Thursday after Maine barred him from its primary election ballot, the second state to do so. When the Colorado Supreme Court barred Mr. Trump from the primary ballot there last week, all of Mr. Trump’s opponents …

The Texan reports: The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) rejected a petition to place the question of Texas secession on the 2024 primary ballot — and the group behind the effort has promised a lawsuit. The Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) — the foremost supporters of the idea referred to as “TEXIT” — turned in over 139,000 signatures earlier this month …

CNN reports: Maine’s top election official has removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot, in a shock decision based on the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows paused her decision pending a potential appeal in state court, which Trump’s team said they intend to file. Bellows, a Democrat, issued the decision Thursday …

Deadline reports: The BBC has criticized research accusing the UK broadcaster of peddling viewers a “steady diet of woke bias,” including news about slavery and gender diversity storylines in drama. The BBC accused the Campaign for Common Sense, a group that advocates for freedom of expression, of “cherry-picking” examples of so-called “woke” issues from thousands of hours of output. The …

Gothamist reports: Using data from Jan. 1, 2023 through the end of November, the MTA announced some of its most popular stops and stations of the year. The MTA said the station with the most MetroCard swipes was Flushing-Main Street, which clocked 6.3 million people using the traditional payment system. Meanwhile, the Grand Central Terminal subway station had a record …

ABC News reports: This year, state legislators introduced and passed a record-breaking number of legislative efforts targeting LGBTQ healthcare, access to public accommodations, inclusion in education, and more in the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union said it recorded at least 508 bills impacting the community in 2023, adding 84 of these bills were passed into law. The rise in …

Ars Technica reports: Amazon confirmed today in an email to Prime members that it will begin showing ads alongside its streaming Prime Video content starting January 29, 2024. The price will remain the same, but subscribers who don’t wish to see any ads will have to pay an additional $2.99 per month on top of their monthly or yearly Amazon …

NBC News reports: Several officials who worked under Republican presidents are arguing that granting Donald Trump immunity in his federal election subversion case would “encourage future Presidents who lose re-election to engage in criminal conduct.” That argument was made in an amicus brief filed in support of the Justice Department’s opposition to the former president’s immunity claim. The U.S. Court …

USA Today reports: Owning a pet may help slow cognitive decline among older people who live alone, according to a study published this week. A large cohort study of adults ages 50 and older living in the United Kingdom showed pet owners had less verbal memory and verbal fluency declines compared to people who lived alone without a pet. The …

CNN reports: Two days before the January 6 insurrection, the Trump campaign’s plan to use fake electors to block President-elect Joe Biden from taking office faced a potentially crippling hiccup: The fake elector certificates from two critical battleground states were stuck in the mail. So, Trump campaign operatives scrambled to fly copies of the phony certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin …