SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Thousands of Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs are snorting and squealing their way across Puerto Rico in what many fear has become an unstoppable quest to eat and reproduce...

Failed Democratic Senate candidate sits on over $14 million in leftover campaign cash while Mainers face a cold, hungry winter. ... Local foods banks say Maine is facing an “unprecedented hunger crisis,” with nearly 215,000 people — one of every six Mainers, including 60,000 children — experiencing hunger and the fear of not knowing where their next meal will come from. A

Biden made his first public comments today in response to an ongoing campaign by progressive Democrats and consumer advocates to convince the President-Elect to enact sweeping student loan forgiveness.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s category guidelines ignited an outcry Tuesday when it was announced that “Minari” would be classified as a foreign language film for Golden Globes voters. Directors, writers and actors including Lulu Wang, Phil Lord, Celeste Ng and Daniel Dae Kim condemned the organization’s longstanding policy, saying it was time to change the rule. The HFPA stipulates that unlike the Oscars, the contenders in the Golden Globes’ best drama or comedy/musical categories must feature at least 50% English dialogue.

A nine-year-old is still number one, but the runner-up is a newcomer who came armed with a forklift, an exploding Toyota and the most expensive firecracker ever made. And he’s just getting started. [There is no need to say you've never heard of these people. -ed.]

President Donald Trump vetoed major defense policy legislation Wednesday, making good on repeated threats to reject the bill if it didn't repeal a legal shield for social media companies. The White House announced Trump's long expected veto of the National Defense Authorization Act in a statement. The administration cited lawmakers' refusal to repeal the online liability protections and forcing the renaming of military bases named for Confederate leaders, among other gripes... Congress plans to return the week after Christmas to vote to override the veto. The House has scheduled a vote for next Monday, and if that succeeds, the Senate will come back into session on Tuesday to deal with the issue. Two thirds of the House and Senate must vote in favor of the legislation in order to nullify the veto.

President Trump’s longtime banker at Deutsche Bank, who arranged for the German lender to make hundreds of millions of dollars of loans to his company, is stepping down from the bank. Rosemary Vrablic, a managing director and senior banker in Deutsche Bank’s wealth management division, recently handed in her resignation, which the bank accepted, according to a bank spokesman, Daniel Hunter. “I’ve chosen to resign my position with the bank effective Dec. 31 and am looking forward to my retirement,” Ms. Vrablic, 60, said in a statement on Tuesday. The reasons for Ms. Vrablic’s abrupt resignation were not clear.

In Southern Ohio, there’s a Native American national historic site called Great Serpent Mound. It’s considered sacred by the tribes. For right-wing Christian activist Dave Daubenmire, none of that matters. So on Sunday, the day of the Winter Solstice, members of his ministry went to the site to prayer against the “dark energy” that he claims is released there. That involved one member climbing onto the mound and essentially desecrating the site. ... At one point, after Yenyo says he’s the executive director for the American Indian Movement of Ohio, one of the Christians responds, “Well, we’re an executive director for Jesus.”

The Department of Justice is alleging that Walmart broke the law and contributed to the prescription opioid crisis by filling thousands of invalid prescriptions and failing to report suspicious orders of opioids, according to the department's statement. The Justice Department said the civil penalties it is seeking could total billions of dollars and injunctive relief. The department's complaint, which was filed in US District Court for the District of Delaware Tuesday, alleges a multi-year investigation found Walmart had violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in multiple ways—both as an operator of its pharmacies and of its wholesale drug distribution centers. "As one of the largest pharmacy chains and wholesale drug distributors in the country, Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids," said the Department's Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division Jeffrey Bossert Clark who alleged that Walmart for years "did the opposite." In response, Walmart (WMT) blasted the Justice Department for allegedly inventing "a legal theory that unlawfully forces pharmacists to come between patients and their doctors" and using "cherry-picked documents taken out of context."

Vladimir Putin has signed legislation that will grant former presidents of Russia lifetime immunity once they leave office. The bill, which was published online on Tuesday, gives former presidents and their families immunity from prosecution for crimes committed during their lifetime. They will also be exempt from questioning by police or investigators, as well as searches or arrests. The legislation was part of constitutional amendments approved this summer in a nationwide vote that allow Putin, 68, to remain president until 2036. Before the bill became law, former presidents were immune to prosecution only for crimes committed while in office. Now a former president can still be stripped of immunity if accused of treason or other grave crimes and the charges are confirmed by the supreme and constitutional courts. But the legislation Putin signed on Tuesday will additionally grant former presidents a lifetime seat in the federation council or senate, a position that assures immunity from prosecution upon leaving the presidency.

Top White House adviser Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, personally signed off on keeping salary payments to top campaign officials off the books, according to a person involved with the arrangements. Federal Election Commission records show that the Trump campaign has made no salary payments to chief strategist Jason Miller, who came on board in June, or to campaign manager Bill Stepien, who joined the campaign in late 2018 and took over the top job from Brad Parscale in July. Kushner agreed to both arrangements, and personally directed the payments to Miller, the person involved said. While the Trump campaign has reported $20,000 monthly salary payments to chief of staff Stephanie Alexander and senior adviser Katrina Pierson, it has not done the same for COO Jeff DeWit or senior advisers Bob Paduchik and Bill Shine. Deputy campaign manager Justin Clark has not taken a direct payment from the campaign since February 2019, according to federal records. Instead, the campaign has paid these top-tier advisers through intermediaries — some of which are still unknown. For instance, according to the source, after salary negotiations with Miller, Kushner directed the campaign to route the top strategist's $35,000 monthly payment through Jamestown Associates, a media and production firm where Miller once worked, and which the campaign contracts for video production. Miller, who is currently contesting child-support payments in court, requested the anonymous arrangement for the $420,000 annual rate, for unclear reasons. Communications, court documents and FEC filings reviewed by Salon make clear that the money was paid to by way of Jamestown. President Trump himself was aware of the deal, a person involved said. To this point, the campaign has not told government that it has paid Miller anything. Instead, it has stated that all payments to Jamestown are for "video production," without mentioning Miller's name or strategy work. Furthermore, Miller's official role means that he has often directed how and when the campaign uses Jamestown Associates, the company that technically pays him.

The Tree Twins are the city's Christmas superheroes

Several incoming House freshmen have inquired about carrying guns into the Capitol, leading a board overseeing congressional security to rethink a regulation banning members from packing heat under the dome, a House aide with direct knowledge of the board review told Axios. Some Democratic members say expanded gun carrying on Capitol Hill would be a "provocation" in light of the current political climate. Some Republicans consider it an expression of a citizen's Second Amendment rights. The matter will be reviewed by the Capitol Police Board, which consists of the sergeant-at-arms of the House, the sergeant-at-arms and doorkeeper of the Senate, and the Architect of the Capitol, said the House aide. The chief of the Capitol Police also serves on the board.

Erik Prince is perhaps the most dangerous private citizen in the country. He created Blackwater to launder mercenary activities around the world, and then changed the company's name after some of his hirelings murdered civilians in Iraq, which we will get to in a moment. He held clandestine meetings in out-of-the-way places on behalf of the president's campaign, and the president* named his sister, Betsy DeVos, to be Secretary of Education, a job for which she was as qualified as I would be to fly a 747, and a job in which she did very little, and all of it badly. These are people with too much power and too much influence. On Tuesday evening, the president* did Prince a solid.

You have probably not seen the Staten Island-based bitcoin apostle, conservative activist, and Newsmax TV studio host John Tabacco’s appearances on Joe Piscopo’s morning radio show, but they are exceedingly easy to imagine accurately. Close your eyes or open YouTube and you can see Tabacco sitting next to Piscopo’s co-host Frankie Five Boroughs, wearing a suit and tie and talking about whatever has Staten Island upset at that moment. For the last four years, that has generally been the people who insist on Being Unfair To Mr. Trump on television. Tabacco knows how to do this in the same way that dogs will shake hands or roll over if there’s a treat in the offing.

Blundering pro-Trump operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman’s legal team think the duo are on track for their case to be heard by the Supreme Court. Speaking in court on Monday morning, lawyer Scott Grabel and William Amadeo of Grabel & Associates told Third Judicial Circuit Judge Margaret M. Van Houten in Michigan they believe the robocall case might even make it to the nation's high court. "Depending on the court's ruling, it might rise to an interlocutory appeal —these are unique issues when there is little case law," Grabel began. "I have seen a few of these cases go up to the Supreme Court after a trial ensued." The hearing Monday involved the judge denying the duo's "bill of particulars" motion. The motion, presented by Wohl and Burkman’s legal counsel, argued for there to be additional information from the Michigan attorney general regarding their charges. But the argument fell flat with the judge. Wohl and Burkman face felony charges for a robocall scheme authorities say targeted Black voters. Grabel spoke to the Daily Dot after the hearing and doubled down on his Supreme Court hopes.

Conflicting internal memos created confusion inside the White House on Wednesday about when staffers in the Executive Office of the President should begin preparing to leave work ahead of the transition next month. In an email Wednesday morning from the White House Management Office, EOP staffers were instructed to “please disregard” an earlier memo that had been sent Tuesday informing them that they “will start departing” on the week of Jan. 4. Both messages were obtained by POLITICO.

The airline said it is carrying 80 tonnes of food from Frankfurt to Doncaster Sheffield Airport for grocers including Tesco and Sainsbury's. Almost 3,000 lorries remain stuck in Kent despite moves to re-start cross-Channel access from Dover. There are concerns that testing drivers for Covid could delay food supplies. France shut its border with the UK on Sunday for 48 hours to stop the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus found in the UK. "Lufthansa Cargo is currently examining whether additional special cargo flights can be offered during the next days. We are also checking if a regular flight might be possible," a spokeswoman told the BBC. "This could be with a freighter, but we are also examining if we could use passenger aircraft for freight flights only," she added. Lufthansa said the delivery, sent by freight firm Venus International Transport, was destined for Tesco, Sainbury's, the Co-op and Aldi.

White supremacists plotted to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S., and an Ohio teenager who allegedly shared the plan said he wanted the group to be “operational” on a fast-tracked timeline if President Donald Trump were to lose his re-election bid, the FBI alleges in an affidavit that was mistakenly unsealed. The teen was in a text group with more than a dozen people in the fall of 2019 when he introduced the idea of saving money to buy a ranch where they could participate in militant training, according to the affidavit, which was filed under seal along with a search warrant application in Wisconsin’s Eastern U.S. District Court in March. The documents were inadvertently unsealed last week before the mistake was discovered and they were quickly sealed again. The teenager wanted the group to be “operational” by the 2024 election because he believed it was likely a Democrat would win, but “the timeline for being operational would accelerate if President Trump lost the 2020 election,” according to the affidavit. An informant told investigators that the teen “definitely wanted to be operational for violence, but also activism.” The Ohio teen, who was 17 at the time, also shared plans with a smaller group about a plot to create a power outage by shooting rifle rounds into power stations in the southeastern U.S. The teen called the plot “Light's Out” and there were plans to carry it out in the summer of 2021, the affidavit states. One group member, a Texas native who was a Purdue University student at the time, allegedly sent the informant a text saying “leaving the power off would wake people up to the harsh reality of life by wreaking havoc across the nation.” The affidavit identifies three people by name and references others who were allegedly communicating with or part of the group. The Associated Press is not naming any of the individuals because charges have not been publicly filed. None of the three men immediately replied to emails, texts or voicemails left Tuesday seeking comment. The father of one of the men had no comment.

Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell are among those named in the suit by Eric Coomer, Dominion's product security director, who is in hiding over threats stemming from conspiracy theories about his work.