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Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) called out defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth for "genuflecting" to President-elect Donald Trump instead of saying he would obey the U.S. Constitution.

During Tuesday's Senate confirmation hearing, Slotkin noted "that no president has the right to use the uniform military in a way that violates the U.S. Constitution and further taints the military as that apolitical institution that we all want."

President-elect Donald Trump may have escaped most legal consequences in his raft of criminal cases, but he's still enraged about the release of special counsel Jack Smith's report on the plot to overturn the 2020 election — and that should tell you everything you need to know about the man, conservative analyst Bill Kristol wrote for The Bulwark on Tuesday.

The incoming president spent much of the morning raging about how unfair everyone was being to him, noted Kristol, including posts to Truth Social in which he said that "Deranged Jack Smith was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his 'boss,' Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another 'Report' based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were."

"Gov. Greg Abbott threatens Texas A&M president’s job over claim that university broke DEI ban" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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While the dispute between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party’s legislative leaders over his call for a special legislative session remains at an impasse, a government watchdog group is criticizing the governor for including changes to the citizen-led initiative process as part of that process.

Amy Keith, executive director of the Florida chapter of Common Cause, said she is in sync with Senate President Ben Albritton’s and Speaker of the House Daniel Perez’s joint public statement on Monday that the governor’s request that the Legislature convene on Jan. 27 was “premature” and “irresponsible.”

Meta has told the Brazilian government that it doesn't yet have to worry about the end of fact checkers in its country because it is only removing them in the United States for the time being.

Brazilian publication Globo reports that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, told Brazil's Office of the Attorney General that its planned content moderation changes are only occurring in the U.S.

The Panama Canal will remain Panamanian, the secretary general of the United Nation's maritime body told AFP on Tuesday, after Donald Trump refused to rule out using military force to seize the key waterway.

"For me it is very clear and it is not a subject of great discussion, because the treaties were signed in 1977. The canal passed into the hands of Panama, which continues to manage this vital waterway, and will continue to do so," said Arsenio Dominguez, head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Venezuela said Tuesday it would limit the number of accredited diplomats at the French, Italian and Dutch embassies, citing their governments' "hostile" response to Nicolas Maduro's inauguration for a third presidential term.

The Venezuelan foreign ministry said the diplomats -- maximum three per country -- would also need "written authorization... to travel more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Plaza Bolivar" in the capital Caracas.

Many career diplomats believe that Marco Rubio, the man tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be secretary of state, is facing a grim future should he gain Senate confirmation.

In interviews with Politico, many diplomats predicted that Rubio would last two years on the job at most, with many going so far as to say that he would be out in less than a year.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) literally yelled at defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth as he dodged questions about his fiscal leadership at several veterans organizations.

"Mr. Hegseth, this hearing is about whether you are qualified to be secretary of defense," Duckworth explained during Tuesday's Senate confirmation hearing. "And any sense that the Department of Defense that keeps us safe is being steered by someone who is wholly unprepared for the job puts America at risk."

The Affordable Care Act reined in many of the worst abuses of the health insurance industry, like denying people for pre-existing conditions or for meeting a lifetime coverage maximum — but it remains an industry where patients can be denied critical care for nonsensical reasons — and horror stories continue to abound, Arwa Mahdawi wrote for The Guardian.

The issue has sprung into national prominence following the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the arrest of Luigi Mangione for the crime. Many took to the internet to apparently root for the killer, with polling showing some 40 percent of young Americans found the shooting "acceptable" and 7 in 10 Americans believe insurance company greed played a role.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) apologized to defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth after he was confronted about sexual assault allegations.

During a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, multiple Democratic senators noted that Hegseth had been accused of raping a woman.