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AUSTIN, Texas — Sorry to break it to you, but Texas is one of the worst states to raise a family, according to a study conducted by WalletHub. WalletHub compared all 50 states across 52 metrics of family-friendliness. The metrics ranged from the median annual family income to housing affordability to the unemployment rate. Overall, Texas ranked in the bottom half, at number 28. Here's how the Lone Star State fared in the 5 categories: Family Fun: 5 Health and Safety: 37 Education and Child Care: 33 Affordability: 41 Socio-economics: 38

One day before the country roused itself from a holiday break, one of the most powerful families in Republican politics issued a double-barreled rebuke of President Trump. Dick Cheney, the former vice president, and Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, drew on their significant political capital and decades of experience in Washington to attack the president’s false claims of vote stealing and his undemocratic effort to overturn the election, which President-elect Joe Biden won.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) reacted to the dismissal of his lawsuit against Vice President Pence on Saturday, telling Newsmax that a court's refusal to force Pence to overturn the presidential election results essentially served as a call to Americans to incite violence in the streets. "The bottom line is the court is saying, 'We're not going to touch this. You have no remedy,'" Gohmert told Newsmax. "Essentially, the ruling would be 'You have to go to the streets and be as violent as antifa, BLM,'" he added. Gohmert was referring to protests that at times became violent over the summer...

WASHINGTON - The video message that plunged Washington into chaos was filmed in secret. President Donald Trump stood in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, holiday garland and gleaming ornaments draped on the fireplace behind him, and spoke into the camera not to deliver warm Christmas wishes, but to threaten to detonate Congress’ $900 billion COVID-19 relief and year-end package. The video was released without warning Tuesday night, its recording orchestrated by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and kept from all but a handful of aides. Few Republicans or even White House staffers knew Wednesday what Trump planned...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge Thursday cast doubt on President Donald Trump’s lawsuit that seeks to overturn Joe Biden’s win in Wisconsin, declaring it “incredible” that Trump didn’t raise the issues before the election and that siding with him would be “the most remarkable ruling in the history of this court or the federal judiciary.” Trump is pursuing extraordinary attempts to overturn Biden’s win with a pair of lawsuits in Wisconsin, in federal and state courts. In the state case, Trump wants to disqualify more than 221,000 ballots and in the federal case he wants to give the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Arizona certified its general election results Monday, cementing President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the state, as the Trump campaign’s legal team continued to allege voter fraud and protest the election results at a meeting with state lawmakers at a nearby hotel ballroom. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said as she certified the results that the state conducted its election with “transparency, accuracy and fairness...despite numerous unfounded claims to the contrary.” Republican Gov. Doug Ducey also took part in the certification, saying, “We do elections well here in Arizona,” and “the system is strong.” With the results certified,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College formalizes President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory — even as he insisted such a decision would be a “mistake” — as he spent his Thanksgiving renewing baseless claims that “massive fraud” and crooked officials in battleground states caused his election defeat. “Certainly I will. But you know that,” Trump said Thursday when asked whether he would vacate the building, allowing a peaceful transition of power in January. But Trump — taking questions for the first time since Election Day — insisted that “a...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court made Joe Biden’s win in the state official on Tuesday, approving the state's final canvass of the Nov. 3 election. The unanimous action by the seven nonpartisan justices sends to Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak results that will deliver six electoral votes from the western U.S. battleground state to Biden. The court action drew extra scrutiny amid legal efforts by the state GOP and Trump campaign to prevent sending vote-by-mail ballots to all 1.82 million active registered voters and then to stop the counting of the 1.4 million votes that were cast.

For some inexplicable reason, conservatives rush towards fratricide with the same kind of urgency that drives lemmings over the cliff. It’s what they do, even when it’s counterproductive and costly. Conservatism wasn’t made better off by the four-year campaign waged against Speaker Newt Gingrich by some House conservatives who considered him ideologically unreliable. It wasn’t helped by John Boehner’s premature departure from Congress, brought about by political headaches caused by House Republicans on his right flank. A small group of so-called purists on the right even crossed swords with President Ronald Reagan, without whom modern conservatism would have emerged stillborn...

Few Republicans have spoken out publicly against President Trump's refusal to concede the election he definitively lost, as he and his legal team continue to promote baseless claims of voter fraud. Mr. Trump's campaign has launched lawsuits in several states won by President-elect Joe Biden alleging voting discrepancies, but nearly all of these challenges have been unsuccessful. Nonetheless, the president's legal team has continued to baselessly claim that fraud occurred. In a rambling, often incoherent news conference on Thursday, the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani falsely said that Democrats were attempting to steal the election... But a few Senate Republicans...

Fox News’ Eric Shawn devoted a segment on Sunday afternoon debunking a number of claims made by President Donald Trump and his allies about a “rigged” election. Shawn told viewers, “Rigged election? Well, your own government, election officials across the country, and voting experts say T not true. It’s not true. Baseless claims that are inflammatory, designed to undermine your faith in American democracy.” He showed video from U.S. election security official Ben Hovland saying, “The reality is this was the most secure election we’ve ever had, and it was one of the most well-run elections we’ve ever had… And...

Employees with “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” were axed Tuesday during mass layoffs at WarnerMedia. At least 17 of the show’s 80 digital platform employees were laid off Tuesday, Buzzfeed News reported. DeGeneres' show includes additional online content, known as Ellen Digital Ventures, where the layoffs were concentrated. “I obviously am as heartbroken as everybody, but we have to know that this is all for the good of EDV, and we need to keep this going because we have such a great team and we believe in y’all,” DeGeneres told employees in a video call, according to Buzzfeed News. “I know...

Fox News interrupted White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday to fact-check her untrue voter fraud allegations, the latest instance of Fox and other members of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire — once key allies of President Donald Trump — pushing back on Trump’s baseless refusal to accept defeat and priming viewers for a post-Trump future. After McEnany baselessly suggested in a press conference Monday afternoon that President-elect Joe Biden’s supporters are willfully engaging in voter fraud, anchor Neil Cavuto cut her off and said she has no evidence, saying, “I can’t in good countenance continue showing you this.” In...

Lawyers at firms representing the Trump campaign are worried that their work is not based on evidence and may undermine US democracy, The New York Times reported. Unnamed lawyers at Jones Day told the Times that they consider their colleagues' work to be intended to reduce public confidence in the results of the election, which President Donald Trump lost. Likewise, some of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur voiced concern in internal meetings, and at least one quit, per the Times. Trump has baselessly claimed there was widespread fraud in the election, and has launched more than a dozen legal challenges...

As the connection between the mainstream media and the Democratic Party gets more blurred, The New York Times reported an MNSBC contributor is writing speeches for Joe Biden. After assisting in writing Biden's acceptance speech, presidential historian Jon Meacham has appeared on MSNBC at least three times since Saturday, per Mediaite. The Times reported he has been a paid contributor to the network, which has been very critical of President Donald Trump. The network has now told the Times he will no longer be paid, but he will continue to appear on the network for free. Meacham did not disclose...

In a revelation announced Monday by The New York Times, former Newsweek editor, liberal historian, and MSNBC/NBC contributor Jon Meacham has been writing speeches for former Vice President Joe Biden, including his Saturday night “victory speech.” Of course, Meacham and the Comcast-owned networks never disclosed this fact.The lack of ethics wasn’t entirely surprising, given how Meacham both endorsed Biden during the campaign and spoke August 20 at the Democratic National Convention, and neither network seemed to care. And that’s in addition to the fact that their ethically-challenged ranks include Mike Barnicle, Joy Reid, and Brian Williams.As per Annie Karni and...

Presidential historian Jon Meacham was reportedly let go as an MSNBC contributor after he apparently failed to disclose to the network that he was a speechwriter for President-elect Joe Biden, including the victory speech he gave on Saturday night. Sources told The New York Times that Meacham had been "playing a larger role than was previously known" behind the scenes, "both writing drafts of speeches and offering edits on many of Mr. Biden’s big addresses, including one he gave at Gettysburg last month and his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention." Biden campaign press secretary TJ Ducklo told the...

WASHINGTON — For Democrats celebrating president-elect Joe Biden's projected victory, the joys of vanquishing President Donald Trump are likely to be short-lived as the party faces daunting challenges ahead. The Democratic Party has big plans — from defeating the coronavirus to expanding health care access to tackling climate change to expanding voting rights to overhauling criminal justice. There will be tension between progressives who want to pursue an aggressive agenda and moderates who want to strike a note of unity and seek cooperation with Republicans after a bruising election. As he begins to roll out his transition plans, Biden can...

Comedian Dave Chappelle delivered a politically charge opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, calling President Donald Trump a “racist hilarious son of a bitch,” touching on the coronavirus, the presidential election, and race in America. “I know a lot of people don’t like him, but I thought the guy was at least an optimist. I am not as optimistic as he was. I look at it like, ‘there’s bad people on both sides,'” said Chappelle on SNL. “Called the coronavirus the kung flu. I said, you racist, hilarious son of a bitch. I’m supposed to say that, not you. It’s...