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Jon Stewart is ripping into politicization of L.A. wildfire disaster.

On Monday night’s episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Stewart laid into conservative critics of California leadership. Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass have been particularly targeted due to some of their preparedness decisions before the fires, as well as their public reactions after the worst blaze in the city’s history broke out. The multiple fires have killed 24 people and are estimated to be the costliest blaze in U.S. history.

Stewart particularly took aim (video below) at congressional republicans seeking to attach wildfire aid to a federal debt limit increase and saying democratic leaders in California need to agree to make changes to their policies first (“I expect there will be strings attached to money that’s ultimately approved … there can’t be a blank check on this,” said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso...

Tucker Carlson is among the celebrity names slated to speak at next week’s Republican National Convention, reportedly in a plum spot on Thursday night before Donald Trump himself accepts the party nomination.

In addition to a long list of elected officials who are backing Trump, the speaker lineup also includes celebrities like Amber Rose, the model, rapper and former stripper; Dana White, the CEO of UFC; and Savannah Chrisley, the TV personality whose parents are serving prison time for fraud and tax evasion. Also on the bill: Lee Greenwood and Chris Janson.

Notably missing from the lineup: Former First Lady Melania Trump and the former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. They each spoke at the 2016 and 2020 conventions.

House GOP leaders like Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer are on the list, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Whip John Thune and Republican...

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A bill that would prevent the imposition of performance-based royalties on broadcast radio stations that play copyrighted music has received broad bipartisan support in Congress.

The “Local Radio Freedom Act” (Lrfa) would permanently ban Congress from demanding radio station owners pay musicians a performance royalty whenever their songs are aired on Am and FM stations across the country.

Under the current system, radio station owners pay songwriters a fee in exchange for the privilege of airing music on stations. But the performers themselves are not owed anything, and the Local Radio Freedom Act would ensure this remains the case for the foreseeable future.

Lawmakers who support the bill say it is necessary to keep the struggling radio industry afloat at a time when consumers are increasingly moving toward streaming services and other ways to listen to music. They see nothing wrong with the current system, which is described...

Updated: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said that he is stepping down as the Republican leader in the Senate, ending a tenure longer than anyone else in that position.

McConnell, 82, said on the Senate floor, “This will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.” He said that it was “time to move on,” although he said that he intended to remain in the Senate through the end of his term, which runs through 2027.

Elected in 1984, McConnell has served as Senate leader longer than anyone else, but his future in that position has increasingly been in doubt after a couple of incidents last year when he froze up as he was speaking to reporters. He had been hospitalized earlier in the year after suffering injuries from a fall.

McConnell also has seen increasing fissures in his party on issues that were once a given for Republican support,...

Updated, with additional comment: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suddenly froze up while giving remarks during a press conference on Wednesday, raising concerns about his health after suffering a concussion earlier this year.

Reporters were gathered around a lectern at the Capitol as McConnell talked of the Senate’s work this week, but he stopped mid-sentence. He stood at the lectern for about 25 seconds before Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy) came forward and said to him, “Anything else you want to say, or should we just go back to your office? Do you want to say anything else to the press?” McConnell then stepped away, with Barrasso escorting him.

Later in the press conference, McConnell returned. CNN’s Manu Raju asked him, “What happened at the start of the press conference? Was it related to your injury from early this year when you suffered a concussion.”

“No, I’m fine,...

Days ago, Donald Trump said in a Sean Hannity interview that a president has special telepathic declassification abilities, and Republicans have been scrambling to justify the remarks ever since. That includes Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who on Sunday had to be cornered into admitting a president can’t declassify documents with his mind.

“I want to ask you about the investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified information. Even though his lawyers have provided no evidence that he declassified the documents, Trump said this week that he could declassify documents by thinking about it.

Update, with video: NBC’s Today team gave a toast Pete Williams on Friday as the veteran Supreme Court and Justice Department correspondent retires at the end of this month.

“When Pete speaks, it is fully vetted, you know that it is accurate, you know that it is fair,” said Today co-host Savannah Guthrie.

The Today team of Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Sheinelle Jones and Tom Llamas held up glasses of champagne to toast Williams, who held up his own glass from NBC News’ Washington, D.C. bureau.

Williams has not announced what he will do next, but said that he has “plenty of new projects to take on.” Williams has been with the network for almost 30 years.

Kelly O’Donnell will add to her duties as senior White House correspondent and serve as interim Supreme Court correspondent until a permanent successor is chosen. The network also announced a series of changes...

One of ExxonMobil’s top lobbyists has been caught on camera revealing what many critics and environmentalists have claimed all along: That the oil giant continues to fight for its profits over the health of the planet, despite public relations campaigns claiming to back measures like a carbon tax to address climate change.

ExxonMobil is one of the planet’s top producers of oil, natural gas, and plastic, one of the corporations most responsible for our planet’s runaway carbon emissions, and a political heavyweight with a dark history of...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sat at his desk, rarely if ever distracted from the case being laid out against Donald Trump by House impeachment managers this week.

That was certainly not the case with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-sc), who at one point tapped a pencil on his desk, and at another fidgeted his fingers. On Thursday, he left the chamber to go to the cloak room for blocks of time.

During the trial, the Senate cameras are fixed on the raised rostrum and whoever is speaking at that moment; the dozen or so reporters in the chamber, however, are fixated on the movements and reactions of the senators themselves.

Gathered in the third-floor gallery just above the rostrum, the members of the media covering the trial in person have a vantage point not captured by the cameras. The journalists are seated in the press gallery on the opposite end...

The Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court battle has turned into one of the most contentious nominations in our nation’s history. President Trump’s nominee has been accused of past sexual assaults and of being dishonest before the Senate.

Despite testimony by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote on September 28th. Following an unaccountably incomplete investigation by the FBI, Kavanaugh’s nomination cleared a key procedural hurdle, setting up a final vote this weekend.

On Friday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-me) delivered...

Donald Trump's inflammatory response to the Orlando massacre has him facing an unusual alliance: President Barack Obama and Republicans. Gop leaders including House Speaker Paul Ryan echoed the president's fierce condemnation of Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of the attack that killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, as well as his suggestions that Obama was sympathetic to terrorists. Ryan denounced the presumptive Gop nominee's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., telling reporters on Tuesday, "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest. I do not think it is reflective of our principles,...

Donald Trump's inflammatory response to the Orlando massacre has him facing an unusual alliance: President Barack Obama and Republicans. Gop leaders including House Speaker Paul Ryan echoed the president's fierce condemnation of Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of the attack that killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, as well as his suggestions that Obama was sympathetic to terrorists. Ryan denounced the presumptive Gop nominee's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., telling reporters on Tuesday, "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest. I do not think it is reflective of our principles,...

Conner Habib reviews Unstoppable, Cher doesn’t hate Madonna, Jason Collins throws out first pitch for Dodgers

Our NewNowNext SexPert Conner Habib is writing for Vice now, and in his first column he reviews the Kirk Cameron movie Unstoppable, where Kirk whines about how Hollywood is trying to silence Christians. It’s a funny read, and Conner stresses he has no problem with faith, just how faith is presented here, which he sums up as “Unstoppable is the full frontal display of an egomaniac who has somehow found his way into a position of power.”

Guido Barilla is apologizing again for the comments he made about gay families. I know he’s mostly just in damage control, as his rivals have taken the opportunity to shout their support for gay families and the world is calling for a boycott, but he’s taking the standard steps that GLAAD proscribes for foot in mouth syndrome.

On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace grilled Republican Senator John Barrasso (R-wy) about whether there were "any new gun controls" he might be willing to support. Although he was pressed several times, Barrasso never answered the question, instead resorting to perplexing answers such as, "I'm a doctor, I'm a father of three." Wallace questioned the senator gun control specifics that might be on the table, including regulation "in terms of assault guns or assault rifles, in terms of high capacity magazines" or "tightening background checks."...