Democrats also have proposed a six-month freeze on coronavirus-related litigation as well as creating a relief fund covering legal fees for businesses and schools that successfully defend against these suits, according to an aide familiar with the talks. The aide said Republicans have favored a liability shield that lasts at least 18-24 months. Republicans have said robust liability protections are needed in order for businesses, schools and nonprofits to operate without the threat of litigation and jump-start economic growth. Democrats argued that businesses shouldn’t be given permission to relax safety precautions and that relatively few coronavirus-related lawsuits have been filed.

New details about the Justice Department investigation into a possible scheme to lobby the Trump administration for a presidential pardon indicate that a now-deceased California real estate mogul donated $6 million to support President Trump -- and promised more. California billionaire Sanford Diller gave the seven-figure sum, and pledged the potential for an even larger donation, as he pursued a pardon for his friend, a Berkeley psychologist in prison for tax evasion, according to documents reviewed by ABC News.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) introduced legislation in the House on Thursday that would bar schools from receiving federal funding if they allow transgender girls and women and non-binary people to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identities. The bill — co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma — was met with immediate outrage from transgender activists and allies who labeled the legislation “blatantly transphobic.” The “Protect Women’s Sports Act” seeks to clarify that Title IX protections for female athletes are “based on biological sex,” Gabbard and Mullin said in a statement. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in educational programs that receive federal financial assistance. The new bill would bar schools from receiving such funds if they permit “a person whose biological sex at birth is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.”

Cheney fired back on Twitter, saying Paul is “currently holding up passage of the #NDAA, blaming America, and delaying hazardous duty pay to hundreds of thousands of our service members and their families. Inexcusable. Rand and I do have one thing in common, though. We’re both 5’2” tall.”

We apologize to our readers for endorsing Michael Waltz in the 2020 general election for Congress. We had no idea, had no way of knowing at the time, that Waltz was not committed to democracy.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday he is suspending indoor dining in New York City indefinitely as of Monday, a result of sustained increase in the five boroughs' hospitalization and positivity rates. There's no reopening timeline. The potential for harsher shutdowns looms large. Mitigating increases in the state's hospitalization rate has become Cuomo's top priority -- and he recalibrated the state's micro-cluster model as part of a revised overarching post-holiday plan. That plan includes new standards for red, orange and yellow cluster zones. If any region in the state is projected to hit 90 percent hospital capacity within 21 days, he will impose a red zone shutdown. That means nonessential businesses, schools and restaurant table service close in a given region for an indefinite time period, a measure reminiscent of spring.

In a post published to her personal Facebook account this week, conservative Michigan activist and GOP chairwoman Meshawn Maddock released the personal details – including home addresses – of over 150 Michigan voters claiming they were dead and voting. Problems arose when those those allegedly dead people began speaking up to let Maddock know they were very much alive. The list of individuals was a small part of a larger file of approximately 2,000 people Maddock received purporting to be part of a significant voter fraud scheme. In releasing the private personal information of live voters, Maddock argued in the Facebook post that those 150 individuals  “voted in Wayne County by absentee ballot that are CONFIRMED deceased.” Alas, they weren’t.

FBI agents have issued at least one federal subpoena for records from the Texas attorney general's office in an ongoing investigation into allegations against Attorney General Ken Paxton. Sources confirmed to KVUE the requests for information were issued on Wednesday at the agency's headquarters on West 14th Street. It was not immediately clear how many subpoenas were issued or what information federal agents sought.

Tom “Tiny” Lister Jr. has died. Although he gained some acclaim from a short-lived wrestling career in the WWF in the early 1990s, Lister was best known as an actor, contributing his unforgettable physical presence to literally hundreds of TV shows and movies across a 30-plus-year career. As the villainous Deebo in the Friday films, the no-nonsense president in Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element, and a nameless, noble prisoner in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Lister intimidated, elevated, and impressed in equal parts. Per Variety, he died today after reportedly displaying symptoms of COVID-19. Lister was 62.

A Bossier City man who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in November was arrested Wednesday on child pornography charges. According to Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office booking records, 34-year-old Ben Gibson was booked into Bossier Max Wednesday morning on four counts of pornography involving juveniles under the age of thirteen (possession).

Some are more amusing, like the one in which Cyberpunk 2077 players can’t get their characters to keep their massive hogs in their pants. I’m sure you’ve heard of this, but if not, let me explain: In Cyberpunk 2077, you can customize the genitals for your character, V — you can choose to have a penis or a vagina, with two different penis options and a size slider. For some players, the customizable genitalia are causing issues: Their penis just won’t stay in their pants.

It’s December, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is still dodging calls to explicitly acknowledge that President Trump lost the election. It’s clear, however, that he knows who the next president will be. True to form, he’s working hard to undermine Joe Biden by confirming Trump’s nominees to independent agencies in the final days. This could shut down Biden’s ability to influence critical agencies’ composition for months, if not years, with severe consequences for regulatory enforcement and new rulemaking

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been named Time magazine’s person – or persons – of the year for 2020. The magazine said: “Together, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket. And America ate the shit sandwich: after the highest turnout in a century, they racked up 81 million votes and counting, the most in presidential history, topping Trump by some 7 million votes and flipping five battleground states.”

Insufferable self-righteous git ends up about where you would expect.

While serving a 90-year prison sentence for selling marijuana, Richard DeLisi's wife died, as did his 23-year-old son and both his parents. His adult daughter was in a horrific car accident and suffered a paralyzing stroke as a result. He never met two granddaughters - a lifetime of missed memories. Yet, 71-year-old DeLisi walked out of a Florida prison Tuesday morning grateful and unresentful as he hugged his tearful family. After serving 31 years, he said he's just eager to restore the lost time. DeLisi was believed to be the longest-serving nonviolent cannabis prisoner, according to the The Last Prisoner Project which championed his release. DeLisi also finally met his 11-year-old and 1-year-old granddaughters for the first time this week.

Early in the pandemic, Joo Park noticed a worrisome shift at the market he manages near downtown Washington: At least once a day, he’d spot someone slipping a package of meat, a bag of rice or other food into a shirt or under a jacket. Diapers, shampoo and laundry detergent began disappearing in bigger numbers, too. Since then, he said, thefts have more than doubled at Capitol Supermarket — even though he now stations more employees at the entrance, asks shoppers to leave backpacks up front and displays high-theft items like hand sanitizer and baking yeast in more conspicuous areas. Park doesn’t usually call the police, choosing instead to bar offenders from coming back. “It’s become much harder during the pandemic,” he said. “People will say, ‘I was just hungry.’ And then what do you do?” The coronavirus recession has been a relentless churn of high unemployment and economic uncertainty. The government stimulus that kept millions of Americans from falling into poverty earlier in the pandemic is long gone, and new aid is still a dot on the horizon after months of congressional inaction. Hunger is chronic, at levels not seen in decades. The result is a growing subset of Americans who are stealing food to survive. Shoplifting is up markedly since the pandemic began in the spring and at higher levels than in past economic downturns, according to interviews with more than a dozen retailers, security experts and police departments across the country. But what’s distinctive about this trend, experts say, is what’s being taken — more staples like bread, pasta and baby formula.

Tuesday’s oral arguments at the Supreme Court should have been a cementing triumph for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. With the ascendance of six conservative justices—including his own former clerk, Amy Coney Barrett—Scalia’s form of textualism seemed poised to become the Supreme Court’s permanent approach to interpreting the law. Instead, in Tuesday’s oral argument, that passing of the torch faltered as his successors embraced an even more radical brand of textualism.

How I Learned to Cook Filet Mignon From Garbage

The Central District Health Board of Health meeting Tuesday night to discuss and vote on a public health order dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic was adjourned shortly after it started because of the danger posed by protesters at the CDH office and at some board members’ places of residence. Moments after a tearful Commissioner Diana Lachiondo left the virtual meeting to head to her house — where her children were home alone, and where anti-mask, anti-health-order protesters had reportedly gathered — CDH Director Russ Duke interrupted a doctor’s statements on the toll of the coronavirus to tell the board and people watching that Boise Mayor Lauren McLean and Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee had requested that the meeting be ended for safety reasons. On Wednesday, Lee said there are three active arrest warrants connected to the protests outside Lachiondo’s home and that more could be coming.

Seventeen states whose elections were won by President Donald Trump told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that they support Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s bid to file a lawsuit that could effectively reverse President-elect Joe Biden’s projected Electoral College victory. The filing backing Paxton by those states came a day after he asked the Supreme Court for permission to sue Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all of which Biden won, over their voting processes. Later Wednesday, Trump filed a motion to intervene in the case “in his personal capacity” as a presidential candidate. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on Paxton’s request. The states supporting the suit, all of which have Republican attorneys general, are Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.