NOTUS reports: When Musk killed a government spending package last month — which he described as “criminal” and a waste of money — he also killed the passage of a long-debated measure to scrutinize American companies’ investments in sensitive Chinese industries, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors. The outbound investment screening bill, which was tucked into the original …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump has reposted a bad taste meme on his Truth Social platform making light of the Los Angeles wildfires. The image circulated by the president-elect replaces the city’s famous Hollywood sign with the phrase “Trump Was Right” as the hills around it burn, his latest criticism of California’s Democratic leadership as the blazes continue to rage, …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: A Clearwater man who vandalized the Delray Beach LGBTQ+ pride intersection pleaded guilty in court Wednesday morning before apologizing at the request of a Palm Beach County judge. “Do you understand what I mean when I use the word ‘remorse’?” Judge Daliah Weiss asked Dylan Reese Brewer, 19, before granting the plea deal, which critics …

The Ventura County Star reports: A former Oxnard priest was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail in connection with sex offenses against two youths in Los Angeles County but avoided state prison, officials said. Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara pleaded no contest to sodomy with a person under age 16 and a lewd act with a child age 14 or 15, according …

Punchbowl News reports: Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) — the chair and ranking member, respectively — are the only committee members who have viewed Hegseth’s FBI file, which was delivered to the panel late last week. Republicans on SASC who have been briefed say that the report is unremarkable. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) told reporters on Friday …

Politico reports: The well-known Cuomo topped the candidates with 32 percent when likely Democratic voters were asked to choose a favorite candidate in what will be a ranked-choice election. Following him were former city Comptroller Scott Stringer at 10 percent; his successor Brad Lander at 8 percent; state Sen. Jessica Ramos at 7 percent; and Adams and state Assemblymember Zohran …

ABC News reports: Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal, even not ruling out using the U.S. military to do so if he saw fit. Asked if Trump was serious about using military power, Waltz said, “What he’s very serious about is the threats that we’re facing in the Arctic — the threats that we’re …

The Associated Press reports: Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by Trump’s team. At least some of these nonpolitical employees have …

Radiology Business reports: President-elect Donald J. Trump first announced his HHS selection in November, with Kennedy slated to serve as the commander in chief’s principal advisor on all health matters. However, the Committee to Protect Health Care, a national advocacy organization, is now pushing lawmakers to derail his confirmation. The group had garnered signatures from more than 19,000 physicians as …

The Daily Beast reports: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has made it abundantly clear that she didn’t study atmospheric sciences in college, launching an unhinged suggestion that officials could end the Los Angeles wildfires by manipulating the weather. “Why don’t they use geoengineering like cloud seeding to bring rain down on the wildfires in California?” the Republican asked Sunday in …

The Meidas Touch reports: As wildfires rage across California, a number of the state’s Republican lawmakers have drawn criticism for abandoning their the state during the crisis, opting instead to join Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The entire California House Delegation was there except David Valadao who voted to impeach Trump after January 6th. Instead of coordinating aid, offering a presence, …

Axios reports: President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the efforts to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal by Jan. 20 — when Biden’s term ends — according to U.S. and Israeli officials. The indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas have reached a critical point eight days before President-elect Trump is sworn into office. Biden’s team is …

The Hill reports: California’s insurance commissioner issued a one-year moratorium on policy nonrenewals and cancellations in areas affected by devastating wildfires in and around Los Angeles. “I am using my moratorium powers to prevent insurance companies from canceling or non-renewing policies in wildfire-impacted areas, so people don’t face the added stress of finding new insurance during this horrific event,” the …

The Washington Post reports: As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, Amazon has cut commitments to protecting the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people from a public listing of its corporate policies. Statements that said Amazon supported the rights of transgender people and would protect the safety of Black employees and customers disappeared from a webpage stating …

Politico reports: According to nearly a dozen retired officers and current military lawyers, as well as scholars who teach at West Point and Annapolis, an intense if quiet debate is underway inside the U.S. military community about what orders it would be obliged to obey if President-elect Donald Trump decides to follow through on his previous warnings that he might …

“I put in the application for a presidential pardon because I believe that Joe Biden has the same responsibility to me that he had to his own son. And I would expect that the same exact pardon that he gave his son has to go to me and to anybody else that’s on that enemies list, whether they want it …

“When you see what’s being shown on television, in addition to the tragedy on the ground, you’re also seeing gross mismanagement in California by elected officials, and it’s heartbreaking to hear the fire chief say that they’ve diverted all of this money away from the fire department to be used for social programs when they were already stretched too thin. …

Variety reports: With the Grammy Awards exactly three weeks away, the wildfires that continue to rage across the event’s long-running home city of Los Angeles have led many in the industry to speculate whether or not the show will be postponed. Even if the wildfires are contained by then and the city is on the road to recovery, the sheer …

NBC News reports: Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., on Sunday dismissed President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to acquire Greenland by military force, saying, “The United States is not going to invade another country. That’s not who we are.” Trump “speaks very boldly on a lot of things,” Lankford said, adding: “We’ve seen this over how he’s done negotiations, whether it be for …

The Guardian reports: Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward forcefully denied making statements attributed to him by James Comer, the Republican chair of the powerful House oversight committee, in which Woodward supposedly said Joe Biden was financially corrupt. “The statements attributed to me in what is apparently his book are false,” Woodward said. “I made none of those statements he attributes …