(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A strong majority of all Americans and roughly 70 percent of Democrats have largely tuned out of political news coverage since the November election, according to a new poll.

A Thursday survey conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that people are generally “exhausted” after this year’s wild campaign, although more Democrats than Republicans had said they had turned off their TVs. The AP reported:

Television ratings — and now a new poll — clearly illustrate the phenomenon. About two-thirds of American adults say they have recently felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of overload, according to the survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Smaller percentages of Americans are limiting their intake of news about overseas conflicts, the economy or climate change, the poll says. Politics stand out. Election news on CNN and MSNBC was taking up too much of Sam Gude’s time before the election, said the 47-year-old electrician from Lincoln, Nebraska. “The last thing I want to watch right now is the interregnum,” said Gude, a Democrat and no fan of President-elect Donald Trump.

The AP noted that from Nov. 5 to Dec. 13, viewership at CNN and MNBC was down 45 and 54 percent, respectively. Fox News was the only network to see an increase in viewership with ratings up 13 percent. Before the election, 53 percent of the primetime cable news audience was tuning into Fox.

As of mid-December, Fox News was a haven for 72 percent of all evening cable news viewers.

Regarding those who said they were disaffected by political news coverage, the AP reported about six in 10 Republicans and an identical share of independents who responded to the poll expressed they were “stepping back from political news.”

Among Democrats, that number climbed to seven in 10.

Ziad Aunallah, a self-described Democrat who spoke to the AP about the poll, explained why he had taken a break from news consumption.

“People are mentally exhausted,” Aunallah told the wire service. “Everyone knows what is coming and we are just taking some time off.”

Citing trends in previous election cycles, the AP offered hope for MSNBC and reported a strong likelihood that networks such as MSNBC should bounce back once emotions had settled:

MSNBC can take some solace in history. In previous years, network ratings bounce back when the depression after an election loss lifts. When a new administration takes office, people who oppose it are frequently looking for a gathering place.

[…]

But the ride may not be smooth. MSNBC’s slide is steeper than it was in 2016; and there’s some question about whether Trump opponents will want to be as engaged as they were during his first term. People are also unplugging from cable television in rates that are only getting more rapid, although MSNBC believes it has bucked this trend eating away at audiences before.

One other interesting tidbit from Thursday’s poll concerned celebrities, who turned out strongly to support Vice President Kamala Harris over now-President-elect Donald Trump.

The AP reported, “After an election season where endorsements from celebrities like Taylor Swift made headlines, the survey found that Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of celebrities, large companies and professional athletes speaking out about politics.”

The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research surveyed 1,251  adults from Dec. 5-9 and the poll reported a margin of error at +/- 3.7 percentage points.

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere called into question President Joe Biden’s agenda for his remaining 25 days in office, submitting that his legacy could be reduced to him being “the guy who was just in between the Trump terms” on Thursday.

Dovere commented that Biden began his term in office as a leader with ambitious goals, but had retreated “into the bushes” since Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election to President-elect Donald Trump last month.

On CNN’s Inside Politics, anchor Phil Mattingly noted Biden spent his first two years pursuing an aggressive agenda, but had since been resigned to a lame duck with low approval numbers – lower than Trump’s were when he left office in January 2021.

Mattingly asked Dovere to weigh in on Biden’s legacy. The reporter replied:

Legacy was what he had. I think you’re right. A historic first couple of years in office. More legislation on the domestic front than anybody going back to Lyndon Johnson can claim credit for. I do think that what you’ve seen is a slow receding into the bushes from Joe Biden here. I’m going to do it. I’m going to bring up a West Wing quote here. There’s a moment on the West Wing when John Spencer, as Leo McGarry, the White House chief of staff, says to his I try to rally the troops and he says, we can do more, we can effect more change in one day in this building than we will in a lifetime after we leave the building. That is not the approach that Joe Biden has been taking, at least publicly since the election, certainly – and even since he ceded the nomination to Kamala Harris. But there are things that he could be doing through executive authority. A lot of things that he could be doing would probably put a target on them for Donald Trump to go after first.

Dovere questioned Biden’s decision to travel to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands for his final presidential vacation on Thursday and concluded:

I think it’s a really difficult thing for Joe Biden to know that he came into the presidency as a rejection of Donald Trump. And here he is being replaced by Donald Trump. I think back to an interview that I did with Joe Biden. He’d been president for about three weeks. So I come from a book that I wrote and a part of the takeaway that I have with him trying to assert himself as Joe Biden, the guy who got elected president, not just Barack Obama’s vice president, not just the guy who beat Donald Trump. But now that is part of who he is. And it may define who he is a couple of weeks before the election. I had a conversation with a senior person in the White House and I said, if Harris loses most of the way that Biden is going to be remembered, at least in the short term, as the guy who was just in between the Trump terms.

Watch above via CNN.

Vivek Ramaswamy praised “immigrant parents” for producing achievers and denigrated “normal American parents” for producing a mediocre workforce in a tweet on Thursday.

Ramaswamy, a billionaire son of Indian immigrants, submitted that “The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over ‘native’ Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture” on X.

“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG,” said Ramaswamy.

He continued:

A culture that venerates Cory from “Boy Meets World,” or Zach & Slater over Screech in “Saved by the Bell,” or “Stefan” over Steve Urkel in “Family Matters,” will not produce the best engineers. (Fact: I know *multiple* sets of immigrant parents in the 90s who actively limited how much their kids could watch those TV shows precisely because they promoted mediocrity…and their kids went on to become wildly successful STEM graduates).

More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of “Friends.” More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less “chillin.” More extracurriculars, less “hanging out at the mall.”

Most normal American parents look skeptically at “those kinds of parents.” More normal American kids view such “those kinds of kids” with scorn. If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve.

Now close your eyes & visualize which families you knew in the 90s (or even now) who raise their kids according to one model versus the other. Be brutally honest.

“Normalcy” doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.

“This can be our Sputnik moment. We’ve awaken from slumber before & we can do it again. Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up,” concluded Ramaswamy. “A culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness. That’s the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood & just wishing (or legislating) alternative hiring practices into existence. I’m confident we can do it.”

President-elect Trump tapped Ramaswamy and fellow billionaire Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with a mandate to cut “$2 trillion” of government waste from the federal budget.

Read Ramaswamy’s post to X (formerly Twitter) here.

The Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols suggested President-elect Donald Trump is obsessed with seizing the Panama Canal because he has business interests in the region.

Recently, Trump has threatened multiple times throughout the week to seize the canal from Panama’s government because of the fees on American ships moving through the route. Trump claimed American workers already paid for the waterway system when thousands died during its construction from 1904 to 1914.

During a Christmas day interview on MSNBC with anchor Yamiche Alcindor, Nichols claimed that Trump’s out-of-left-field tirades” on Panama are probably related to his personal interests in the region.

ALCINDOR: Tom, how serious do you think President elect Trump is this time?

NICHOLS: He’s probably got some pebble an issue about something that’s happened in Panama that relates to his interests. That’s usually what provokes one of these kind of out-of-left-field tirades from Donald Trump. It’s important for people to remember that this wasn’t simply a gift put under a Christmas tree 45 years ago, that this is actually the relationship with Panama. And the Panama Canal is governed by a Senate ratified treaty that already lays out the relationship between the United States and Panama. And when Donald Trump says, well, we’ll just take it back, you know, just as in his first term, I think in his second term, we’re going to be saying something using a phrase that we used a lot during his first four years, which is things don’t work that way. That’s not how any of that works. So, you know, he can say it and he can complain about it and he can get big cheers about it at conservative meetings. But that’s that’s not going to happen.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC. 

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President-elect Donald Trump fired off a Christmas day message on Truth Social taking aim at his political opponents and mocking foreign leaders.

Trump first directed his Christmas message to the “wonderful soldiers of China” where he accused them of “illegally” operating in the Panama Canal while  “the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money.” Earlier this month, Trump suggested the U.S. would retake the canal because of the  “ridiculous” fees for shippers moving through the vital transportation channel.

“Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about ‘anything,'” Trump wrote to his followers on Truth Social.

The president-elect then mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by referring to him as “governor,” and reiterated his goal to purchase Greenland from Denmark “for national security purposes.”

Trump added, “Also, to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose Citizens’ Taxes are far too high, but if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World. Likewise, to the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the U.S. to be there, and we will!”

pic.twitter.com/UeCR3MJonZ

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) December 25, 2024

In a follow-up post filled with Trump’s signature Christmas cheer, the GOP leader wished a “Merry Christmas” to the “radical Left Lunatics” before slamming President Joe Biden for his recent pardons.

“Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics, who are constantly trying to obstruct our Court System and our Elections, and are always going after the Great Citizens and Patriots of the United States but, in particular, their Political Opponent, ME,” Trump continued. “They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing.”

Just before Christmas, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row to life without parole.

“Also, to the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump concluded. “I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky ‘souls’ but, instead, will say, GO TO HELL! We had the Greatest Election in the History of our Country, a bright light is now shining over the U.S.A. and, in 26 days, we will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

ESPN

ESPN insider Adam Schefter took exception to a report claiming he was in cahoots with the agent of former NFL coach Pete Carroll.

On Wednesday, Schefter reported that Carroll was interested in returning to NFL sidelines. He last coached for the Seattle Seahawks in 2023. Not long after, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio published his own report referencing Schefter’s scoop. According to Florio, Schefter had ulterior motives.

Florio’s report read:

Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Carroll wants back in. Which means, frankly, that Carroll’s agent has specifically told this to Schefter in the hopes that Schefter would broadcast it to the world, in the hopes of generating public opinion. Then, Carroll’s agent will owe Schefter big time.

And that’s how the sausage gets made.

Just minutes after Florio’s piece went live, Schefter responded on social media to shut down the implication.

“Everything you say here is 100 percent wrong,” Schefter tweeted. “Keep up the guess work and Merry Christmas.”

Schefter has recently gone out of his way to respond harshly to criticisms of his reporting. When Fox Sports radio host and college basketball coach Doug Gottlieb accused him of reporting bogus financial figures from a university, Schefter trashed him for his team’s disastrous season.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy surprised a pizza place in Baltimore with a $60,000 donation to prevent it from shutting down.

As part of his ongoing series of pizza reviews, Portnoy recently stopped at TinyBrickOven on Light Street in Baltimore. As owner Will Fagg was working behind the counter, he explained to Portnoy that his inability to acquire a liquor license meant the restaurant was no longer financially sustainable. Because of this, he planned to close TinyBrickOven on Christmas Day.

“Well, we’re just not making any money, man,” he told Portnoy in the video posted Monday. “It’s been crazy… The thing is, our politicians gave this market down here their liquor license, but they won’t give us ours. It’s been crazy, man. It’s been totally crazy.”

Portnoy then told Fagg that he hoped the pizza would be great so that the exposure could lead to more business. A few minutes later, Portnoy stepped outside to finally try it.

“OK, this is a reheat and very good,” Portnoy said after taking a few bites. “Thin, New York kinda style. I really like it… There’s no way this place should be going out of business. None.”

Portnoy walked back into the restaurant and asked Fagg a question.

“How much money do you need to stay open for like a year?” he said.

Fagg couldn’t give a firm answer, so Portnoy asked again.

“Well, if there was somebody super rich who was in the pizza business, and by serendipity was like, ‘What do you need to stay open for a year?’ you gotta give him some figure because then he’s gonna walk away.”

Fagg estimated it’d cost around $60,000, prompting an immediate “done” from Portnoy as the two shook hands.

“Oh my god!” Fagg exclaimed. “That is unbelievable!”

Watch above via Dave Portnoy

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The air fryer is an indispensable part of my cooking arsenal these days. It makes quick work of anything I'd otherwise be oven roasting—like peppers, or salmon—and unless you have a huge toaster oven model, you can probably put it away if you need the counter space back.

This year for the holidays, I'm leaving the oven available for other things and air frying my pumpkin pie.

You can absolutely bake pies in the air fryer

A great pumpkin pie is cooked gently (so the mixture doesn’t split) and has a well-baked pie crust. Managing this, whether in a conventional oven or in an air fryer, can be easy if you keep a couple things in mind.

First, pumpkin pie filling is a custard filling, also sometimes called an egg-rich filling. All this means is that eggs make up an important part of the ingredient list and they’re responsible for binding the other ingredients—but they need to be cooked gently. According to America’s Test Kitchen, “When custards such as crème anglaise are heated, they turn thick and creamy as milk and egg proteins unfurl and bond with each other. However, if they are overheated, too many bonds form and the proteins clump.” If you’ve ever had a gritty or watery pumpkin pie, this might be why. We'll avoid that with a lower fan speed. (More on that later.)

Then there's the moisture factor. Aside from the eggs, pumpkin pie includes its namesake purée, sugar, spices, and a liquid like evaporated milk, all of which make for a rather wet mixture—and wet mixtures can easily lead to soggy crusts. To prevent that from happening, pumpkin pie crusts, whether air-fried or not, should get a blind bake before you add the filling. 

Blind baking is the whole reason you can make this pie in the air fryer at all. Air fryers heat from the top, which is why you can't us them to bake double-crusted pies. Luckily, your pumpkin pie's crust will be cooked through before the filling even joins the party.

If you’re in the market for an air fryer, read about my top picks from 2024:

• Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven with Grill

• Instant Vortex 6-quart Air Fryer Oven

• Ninja Doublestack XL Air Fryer

How to air fry a pumpkin pie

Despite its reputation for aggressive convection heating, you can both blind bake and gently bake a pie in the air fryer. To tackle both of these things, use a lower temperature, and the “bake” setting instead of “air fry.”

The difference between those settings is the fan speed. Air frying triggers a much higher fan speed, while the "bake' setting is much slower. You can probably even hear the difference when you change the setting. The pie will still bake quicker than it would in a regular oven, but it shouldn't overcook on the top.

I like to crumple the parchment paper before lining the pastry so large folds don't cut into the pastry. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

1. Blind bake the crust

Set up your blind baking as you would normally. With the pie pastry fitted into a pie plate, line the pastry with parchment paper and fill it with pie weights. (I use dry beans, but you could use ceramic beads, sugar, or rice.) Place the crust in an air fryer heated to 350°F on the “bake” setting. This is easy to do in the swinging door model, but not impossible for basket-style air fryers: I have a basket model that just fits a 9-inch aluminum pie plate, so there’s no room for my hands.

To lower the pie into the basket without burning yourself or dumping your pie in sideways, make a foil strap by tearing off a piece of foil about 16 inches long. It needs to be wide enough to sit under the widest part of the pie and long enough to come up on both sides with enough extra that you can grab the ends. Fold the foil three or four times lengthwise to make a strap about two or three inches thick, like in the picture below. Grab the strap’s ends, lift and lower the pie into the basket. The strap will stay so you can take the pie out later. Bend the ends down so they’re in the confines of the basket. 

Use the aluminum foil strap to lift and lower the pie into the basket if needed. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Bake the crust with the weights in it for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are taking on color. Lift the weights out by gathering the parchment paper edges. The crust should look dry on the bottom. Use a fork and prick the bottom crust five or six times. Close the oven and bake it for another two minutes so the bottom can cook through. It shouldn’t, but if the crust puffs at all in the bottom, just use an oven mitt to press it down and flatten it.

2. Reduce the temperature and bake the pie

Reduce the temperature to 325°F and leave it on the “bake” setting.

Fill the blind baked crust with your raw pumpkin pie filling. If you’re using the basket model, leave the crust in the basket of the air fryer. It’s easier to fill while it’s already seated. If you have the swinging door variety, take the whole tray out of the oven. Fill the shell while it’s on the tray, and return the whole thing to the oven. Bake the pie for five minutes at 325°F, and then reduce the temperature to 300°F and continue to cook the pie for another 10 to 20 minutes. All the while, keep it on that “bake” function.

The pie is done when the edges of the filling are just beginning to take on color, and the center is set with the slightest hint of a jiggle. Cool the pie on a wire rack. Enjoy it warm, room temp, or chill it in the fridge if you prefer it cold. 

When baking your pumpkin pie, keep in mind that the timing will vary depending on your air fryer. That’s why the last time frame is rather wide. Air fryers models differ in their speed, pie recipes have more this and less that, and consider if your pie is deep-dish or not. Check on your pie after it's finished the initial five minutes at 325°F, then change to 300°F for 10 minutes. Depending on how set the filling is at this point, you may need to continue baking it for more time.

Far-right provocateur Candace Owens melted down on Monday and attacked the right-of-center, satirical website The Babylon Bee for an article aimed at her. Owens fuming at the website’s joke, led to its editor in chief doubling down and roasting critics online.

The Bee published a piece on Sunday titled, “Candace Owens Horrified To Learn Christmas Was Started By Birth Of A Jew.” Owens exited the Daily Wire after feuding with Ben Shapiro over Israel and antisemitism and has made headlines throughout 2024 for her attacks on Jews, including claiming that a “small ring” of Jewish people in Hollywood and DC are involved in a “sinister” plot. She ended the year being labeled the “Antisemite of the Year” by a right-leaning watchdog group, which warned “There is no psychotic rabbit hole too extreme for this poisonous hater.”

The Babylon Bee’s editor in chief Kyle Mann defended the article on X, writing, “I think maybe you just didn’t get the joke. Let me try to explain. It’s that Candace Owens was horrified to learn christmas was started by the birth of a Jew. Hope this helps.”

Owens replied to Mann, “Everyone is just starting to see the agenda behind your “jokes”. Hope this helps.”

Owens continued fuming at The Bee in additional posts, writing:

1) They never make jokes about Jews. That’s part of the feedback.
2) We aren’t asking for it to be censored. We’re asking for it to be funny. No one asked for Alec Baldwin to be censored on SNL. We just didn’t think he was funny and noticed he was sort of just an angry man.

She later replied to another user, “Are we required to think the Babylon Bee is funny when they take so many shots at Christians and mock Mary and then go “it’s just a joke!”. We can take a joke, maybe their writers can learn to take an opinion. People simply aren’t finding them as funny as they used to be.”

The managing editor of The Bee, Joel Berry, responded to Owens’s posts, adding, “Candace Owens is really spending Christmas Eve melting down about a Babylon Bee joke.”

Mann further weighed in by sharing a quote from English author G.K. Chesterton, who is popular on the right, saying, “A man is angry at a libel because it is false, but at a satire because it is true.” Mann went on to defend the article in a series of replies to angry X users, including one who wrote, “I’m kinda confused why the Bee pretends to be Christian when it’s run by a bunch of jews? The Daily Wire does the exact same thing. Why???”

Mann replied, “It’s a conspiracy, we’re all out to get you.”

Below are some additional replies to Owens, primarily from the right:

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Just like Google makes Pixel Buds for Pixel users and Apple makes AirPods for iPhones, Samsung has the Galaxy Buds series for Galaxy phone users. It's usually better to stay within your ecosystem since you'll get a better user experience and value for your money, and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are no exception. You can get them right now for $189.99 (originally $249.99), matching the lowest price it has hit on Amazon, according to price-tracking tools.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro

Water & Sweat Resistance: IP57, UHQ Audio: Yes (up to 24bit / 96kHz)Ah, ANC: Yes (Adaptive Noise)

$189.99 at Amazon

$249.99 Save $60.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$189.99 at Amazon

$249.99 Save $60.00

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are Samsung's flagship earbuds that came out earlier this summer. They offer noise-cancelling through their snug in-ear fit, not through an active noise-cancelling feature. One of their standout features is their nuanced sound quality with exceptional clarity for Galaxy phone users, thanks to their codec support. If you have a non-Samsung Android phone, it'll still work, but you won't get the exceptional audio quality Galaxy phones will get, according to PCMag's "excellent" review.

Their IP57 rating means you don't have to worry about dropping them in water or using them on dusty environments. You'll also notice LED lights on the outside of the buds, which indicate the battery life (six hours per charge with ANC on and an extra 20 hours of battery life with the charging case).

In my opinion, the best features the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro offer are the same ones that make them unique—the AI features. You'll get the usual Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive, and Ambient Sound, but you'll also get an "Interpreter" mode, which translates languages in real time, and "Listening" mode, which translates videos or lectures you listen to on your phone. The app also gets you an adjustable EQ, and an Adaptive Equalizer that adjusts audio based on how the earbuds fit in your ears.

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If you struggle to find the motivation to clean up, you're not alone—that's why there are so many different techniques out there that involve giving yourself a little reward when you finish up a hard task. You can use apps to gamify your productivity or follow the tried-and-true Pomodoro method, which has you work for 25 minutes, then enjoy a five-minute break before starting up again. Those approaches may not work for everyone, though, so why not try a little twist on the classic reward system? This approach involves real-time rewards that may just rewire your brain into enjoying cleaning, giving you real motivation to get started.

Reward yourself in the moment for cleaning motivation

I got this idea while listening to a HuffPost podcast featuring Patric Richardson, author of House Love: A Joyful Guide to Cleaning, Organizing, and Loving the House You're in. Richardson suggests that the next time you're buying cleaning supplies, you should pick up a favorite candy, too—but don't eat it until it's time to clean. The idea is so simple, but so brilliant: Eating a "cleaning candy" you enjoy while you work gives you something to look forward to and can even make you want to clean. What you really want, of course, is the candy—your reward—but since you're enjoying it while you work, you'll start to associate the treat with the work itself. It could end up blending together so your brain stops differentiating between working and getting a reward and you end up feeling a desire to clean.

That reminded me of something I've done in my own life without realizing it. A few years ago, I started watching Gossip Girl and I fell in love with it. The problem was I'm not someone who ever really watches TV, but I really wanted to watch that particular show, so I started watching it when I was at the gym. I swear, my time on the cardio machines doubled, if not tripled, because I never wanted to get off and stop watching. Pretty soon, I started getting really excited to go to the gym at all, even though working out had never been something that invigorated me or made me intrinsically happy before. It was more of a necessary chore, if anything, but the addition of a show I could only watch while I was on the elliptical turned it into a luxury. Gossip Girl and cardio time kind of blended together in my brain until instead of wanting to watch the show, I just felt like I wanted to work out.

A treat that is exclusively enjoyed while you're doing something you don't naturally love can really only help you out in terms of motivation, whether it's "cleaning candy," a show, a podcast, a certain kind of music, a special drink, or something else.

Why and how real-time rewards work for cleaning motivation

Giving yourself something to look forward to when the task ahead of you is otherwise uninteresting (or even loathsome!) is an easy way to turn things around. You may not want to clean, but you do want to eat that snack or listen to that podcast, so you end up cleaning just so you can do it.

The trick here is that you have to commit to not enjoying your chosen treat when you're not cleaning. Don't get lax and tell yourself one episode of your show or sip of your special drink won't hurt when you're relaxing. It's a slippery slope: When Blair married Prince Louis in season five, I gave myself permission to watch the episode on a full-sized TV instead of my phone at the gym, and I felt so guilty about it that I still remember it years later. If it helps, designate a candy or show that is your second favorite as your cleaning treat so you can't and won't indulge when you're not tidying up.

Eventually, you'll start to associate the treat with cleaning and cleaning with the treat. Whatever little mind games you have to play to get yourself to do something you don't want to do are a-OK. Just make sure if you're snacking and cleaning, you're wearing gloves while you work and removing them when you reach for the candy.

Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

On Monday, the much-anticipated House Ethics Committee Report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was released. The 37-page report titled “In the matter of allegations relating to Representative Matt Gaetz” covers a stunning description of the “substantial evidence” that Gaetz “violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”

In November, Gaetz was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next attorney general and resigned from Congress before dropping his bid. The Florida firebrand’s alleged entanglement in a sprawling series of schemes and crimes — including accusations about illegal drug use, bribes, and allegations he sexually trafficked a 17-year-old girl — brought a lot of noise to his nomination path, already rocky because of the many bridges he burned with his GOP congressional colleagues.

Gaetz’s former friend, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, is currently in prison serving an 11-year sentence after pleading guilty to paying a 17-year-old girl for sex while also providing her with illegal drugs. In Greenberg’s plea, he admitted that he  “introduced the minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts,” although the plea did not mention any specific names of those adult men.

A House Ethics Committee investigation was opened into the allegations and rumors about the “highly damaging” contents of the committee’s report have been swirling for months. Last week, news broke that the committee had taken a secret vote to release its report. As he has throughout, Gaetz denied all wrongdoing and has vowed to seek to have sexual misconduct settlements and other damaging information about his former colleagues released as payback, but in the end there was nothing he could legally do to block the release of the report and it was published by the committee Monday morning.

In the report, the committee noted that normally it would “typically” not release its findings after a Member resigns from Congress, thereby causing the committee to lose jurisdiction, but “there are a few prior instances where the Committee has determined that it was in the public interest to release its findings even after a Member’s resignation from Congress.”

“The Committee does not do so lightly,” the report continued. “In this instance, although several Committee Members objected, a majority of the Members of the Committee agreed that the Committee’s findings should be released to the public.” To obtain that majority vote to release the report, some Republican members of the committee had to cross party lines and vote in favor of release.

It should be noted that the dissenting members’ statement clearly states “we do not challenge the Committee’s findings,” and objects only to the decision to “release a report on an individual no longer under the Committee’s jurisdiction, an action the Committee has not taken since 2006.”

The report goes on at length about Gaetz’s repeated efforts to “engage in obstructive conduct,” as he “continuously sought to deflect, deter, or mislead the Committee in order to prevent his actions from being exposed”  — and then details the evidence that they were able to gather despite his interference.

Below, the seven biggest bombshells from the report.

7. Gaetz used congressional resources in connection to obtaining drugs and paying women for sex.

The “ample evidence” included in the report that Gaetz “purchased and used marijuana” includes how “he appears to have set up a pseudonymous e-mail account from his House office in the Capitol complex for the purpose of purchasing marijuana.”

The report also describes how Gaetz “arranged for his Chief of Staff to assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport, falsely indicating to the U.S. Department of State that she was a constituent.” This stood out to the committee because normally district staff handled passport assistance requests and it was “unusual” for the Chief of Staff to be involved.

6. Gaetz “accepted gifts…in excess of permissible amounts,” specifically related to a 2018 Bahamas trip

Many of the allegations center around rowdy parties that featured heavy use of drugs and alcohol, including a specific 2018 trip to the Bahamas. House Rules prohibit gifts valued over $250 received through a personal friendship without formal approval from the committee, among other restrictions. There’s an exemption for “personal hospitality,” meaning receiving food and lodging staying in someone’s personally owned home, but that does not include air travel or stays in a rental property.

Gaetz went on a trip to the Bahamas in September 2018 that was attended by two other men and six women. He “arrived by commercial plane later than the others, who arrived on private planes,” the report states, and they “stayed at a vacation rental booked and paid for by one of the male travelers.” The trip involved Gaetz “engag[ing] in sexual activity with at least four of the women on the trip” and taking drugs, the report states. “The group returned to Orlando on September 16, 2018; Representative Gaetz flew on a private plane with another man and three women, while the remaining individuals flew on another private plane.”

5. Gaetz “used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions.”

The report describes Gaetz sending text messages to the women asking them to bring drugs to their encounters and sending them money. “Another woman said that she brought cocaine to at least one event with Representative Gaetz and that she witnessed him taking cocaine or ecstasy on at least five occasions,” the report states, and Greenberg also “told the Committee that he would typically provide drugs, such as ecstasy, for events he attended and Representative Gaetz would pay him back in cash.”

“Based on the evidentiary record, the Committee identified at least 20 occasions from the beginning of 2017 through the middle of 2020 where there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz met with women who were paid for sex and/or drugs,” the report states, along with testimony about “multiple additional events, trips, or parties” where Gaetz “may have paid women for sex and drugs, although the Committee could not determine the specific dates or locations for all of them.”

4. Gaetz “regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him” — totaling nearly $100,000 paid to at least 15 women

The 42-year-old Gaetz has repeatedly tried to frame his past conduct during his “single days” in his thirties as just hard partying — “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life,” he tweeted last week — and being “generous” with women he “dated,” writing that he  “often sent funds to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked.”

The report makes it clear that the understanding between Gaetz and the women was that the monetary payments were for having sex with him.

From 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use. Payments were made to these women using peer-to-peer payment platforms such as PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp; while Representative Gaetz had accounts in his name on each of those platforms, he also sometimes paid women through another person’s PayPal account, or through an account held under a pseudonymous e-mail account. Representative Gaetz also paid some of the women by check or in cash.

Some of the payments included in the report went to “Woman 1,” who was in a “long-term relationship” with Gaetz “and therefore some of the payments may have been of a legitimate nature,” but the Committee nonetheless concludes that “most” of the payments “were for sexual activity and/or drugs, or for her to pass on to others for such purposes.” Woman 1 asserted her Fifth Amendment rights when questioned about this.

“Many” of the women were “initially contacted” by Greenberg via a website known as “Seeking Arrangement” that “advertised itself as a ‘sugar dating’ website that primarily connected older men and younger women seeking ‘mutually beneficial relationships,'” the report states. “The website was generally understood by many of the women interviewed by the Committee to involve, at minimum, an exchange of companionship for money.”

Gaetz did not have his own account on SeekingArrangement.com, but the young women were contacted through Greenberg’s account — and Gaetz had the login information. The two, who met at the home of Chris Dorworth, a lobbyist and former Florida legislator who resides in Seminole County, would frequently party and travel together and split the costs of the alcohol, drugs, and payments to the women:

Mr. Greenberg indicated he frequently showed the site to Representative Gaetz and that he provided his login credentials to Representative Gaetz. According to Mr. Greenberg, he and Representative Gaetz would split the costs of “drugs, hotel[s], and girls.” For example, the Committee reviewed evidence that such activity occurred in July 2017. Specifically, evidence showed that Representative Gaetz, Mr. Greenberg, and others gathered at a rental property located in the Brickell neighborhood of Miami, Florida for a weekend beginning on July 7, 2017; Representative Gaetz and Mr. Greenberg also spent time in Fort Lauderdale during the Miami stay (during which time Representative Gaetz withdrew at least $1,200 in cash from three different accounts at a single ATM). On June 22, 2017, Representative
Gaetz paid $6,308 for that rental booking. On July 9, 2017, Mr. Greenberg paid Representative Gaetz $1,600 by check; Mr. Greenberg stated the check was reimbursement for a share of the rental. Mr. Greenberg also noted that they met up with another individual for dinner that weekend, and he shared a photo of Representative Gaetz, himself, and the other individual on social media on July 8, 2017.

The Committee received evidence confirming that Representative Gaetz at times personally made payments to women who attended parties with him and Mr. Greenberg, using various peer-to-peer electronic payment services, as well as checks and cash. The Committee’s record also indicates that Mr. Greenberg sometimes paid women for having sex with Representative Gaetz and was sometimes reimbursed by Representative Gaetz. Witnesses indicated that there were times where a lump sum would be sent to one woman, who would then distribute the money evenly among others who attended the parties. Likewise, in one instance Representative Gaetz sent $400 to Mr. Greenberg with the note “Hit up [Victim A]”; Mr. Greenberg then sent two women payments totaling $400, including Victim A.

“Victim A” — the 17-year-old — “recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” the report states.

Another anecdote in the report describes “evidence that [Gaetz] understood and shared many of the women’s transactional views of their arrangements:

In one text exchange viewed by the Committee, Representative Gaetz balked at a woman’s request that he send her money after he accused her of “ditching” him on a night when she was feeling tired, claiming she only gave him a “drive by.” The woman asserted to Representative Gaetz that she was being “treated differently” than other women he was paying for sex. The Committee also obtained text messages in which Representative Gaetz’s then-girlfriend informed some of the women who were typically paid for sex that “the guys [Representative Gaetz and Mr. Greenberg] wanted me to share that they are a little limited in their cash flow this weekend . . . [M]att was like[,] if it can be more of a customer appreciation week. . . .”A few months later, she noted that, “Btw Matt also mentioned he is going to be a bit generous cause of the ‘customer appreciation’ thing last time.” Another woman specifically recalled a conversation with Representative Gaetz about issues with Mr. Greenberg’s “following through” with expected payments after Mr. Greenberg’s encounters with her.

Mr. Greenberg told the Committee that Representative Gaetz was aware that the women they had sex
with and paid had met Mr. Greenberg through the “sugar dating” website. Representative Gaetz did not appear to have negotiated specific payment amounts prior to engaging in sexual activity with the women he paid. Instead, the women had a general expectation that they would typically receive some amount of money after each sexual encounter.

The report includes details about Greenberg’s communications with the women, including a text message exchange in which $400 “per meet” is negotiated and Greenberg sends along a photo of the “friend” who will be joining them: Gaetz.

Screenshot from House Ethics Report

The committee flatly rejects Gaetz’s claim he was just being “generous” to women he dated. “Representative Gaetz took advantage of the economic vulnerability of young women to lure them into sexual activity for which they received an average of a few hundred dollars after each encounter,” the report states. “Such behavior is not ‘generosity to ex-girlfriends,’ and it does not reflect creditably upon the House.”

3. “Nearly every woman” who spoke to the committee had been so drunk or high they couldn’t fully remember the details of events they attended with Gaetz. At least one woman testified the heavy drug and alcohol use “impaired” her ability to fully consent and that she felt “violated.”

From the report:

While all the women that the Committee interviewed stated their sexual activity with Representative Gaetz was consensual, at least one woman felt that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have “impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent.” Indeed, nearly every woman that the Committee spoke with could not remember the details of at least one or more of the events they attended with Representative Gaetz and attributed that to drug or alcohol consumption. The women also discussed instances where Representative Gaetz would try to convince them to have sex with him or Mr. Greenberg: “[H]e would make me feel bad about not having sex with him or [] Joel Greenberg” and that he would say, “Why don’t you want to have sex with me” or “[Mr. Greenberg] looks very sad over there .. .. Make him happy.”Another woman said that their relationship at some point was a “loving friendship,” but over time came to feel like a “task.” A third woman said, “[When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated.” One woman said, “I think about it all the time …. I still see him when I turn on the tv and there’s nothing anyone can do. It’s frustrating to know I lived a reality that he denies.”

2. Gaetz “engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl” — and the testimony from the victim and other corroborating witnesses is “credible”

Florida statutes impose what is legally known as “strict scrutiny” prohibiting someone 24 years of age or older from having sex with a 16- or 17-year old. It does not matter that the woman did not affirmatively tell Gaetz her age or even if she had misrepresented her age; the law imposes 100 percent of the burden on the adult having sex with someone who might be a minor.

“Representative Gaetz’s actions were in violation of Florida’s statutory rape law,” the report declares. The now-adult woman described as “Victim A” was 17 years old and had just finished her junior year of high school when she attended a party at Dorworth’s home on July 15, 2017. The Dorworth residence is in a gated community with security that requires guests to show their driver’s license to enter and records are maintained of those guests.

Victim A told the committee she was “under the influence of ecstasy during her sexual encounters” with Gaetz at this party, that she and Gaetz “had sex twice during the party, including at least once in the presence of other party attendees,” and she “recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex.”

“There is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl,” the report states. “The Committee received credible testimony from Victim A herself, as well as multiple individuals corroborating the allegation. Several of those witnesses have also testified under oath before a federal grand jury and in a civil litigation. Representative Gaetz denied the allegation but refused to testify under oath. He has publicly stated that Victim A ‘doesn’t exist’ and that he has not ‘had sex with a 17-year-old since I was 17.’ The Committee found that to be untrue and determined that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz had sex with Victim A in July 2017, when she was 17 years old, and he was 35…The Committee found no reason to doubt the credibility of Victim A.”

1. The DOJ failed to pursue justice despite overwhelming evidence and impeded the committee’s investigation

Perhaps most damning is the committee’s conclusion that the Department of Justice was an impediment to the investigation and failed the cause of justice by not charging Gaetz with any crimes. The report is unequivocally critical of the DOJ for failing to pursue charges against Gaetz in light of all the testimony and other evidence, and specifically speaks to the chilling effect the lack of action from DOJ on the victims and witnesses:

Most of the women with whom the Committee spoke also gave statements to DOJ and urged the Committee to rely on
those statements in lieu of requiring them to relive their experience. They were particularly concerned with providing additional testimony about a sitting congressman in light of DOJ’s lack of action on their prior testimony. DOJ refused to provide the relevant statements and other significant evidence to the Committee. DOJ cited internal policies about protecting uncharged subjects like Representative Gaetz, general concerns about how DOJ’s cooperation with the Committee may deter other victims in other matters, and various inapposite policies relating to congressional oversight of DOJ itself. DOJ’s initial deferral request and subsequent lack of cooperation with the Committee’s review caused significant delays in the investigation; those delays were compounded by Representative Gaetz’s obstructive efforts. The Committee has determined that its findings must be released without further impediments.

The report discusses some of the women involved who “cited a fear of retaliation from the congressman when declining to speak on the record with the Committee,” and sought to investigation allegations that Gaetz “may have sought to tamper with witness testimony in connection with its investigation or the DOJ’s investigation,” but was once again stymied by the DOJ when the agency “refused to provide a copy of an audio recording in which Representative Gaetz discussed the DOJ’s inquiry with one of the women he paid for sex.”

Victim A was specifically disappointed by the DOJ’s failure to act; the report describes how she “cooperated with DOJ’s investigation for years and was let down by the justice system when reports circulated that DOJ would be unlikely to pursue charges against Representative Gaetz.”

The DOJ also refused to respond to FOIA requests and subpoenas sent by the committee:

After three months without a response despite repeated follow up, the Committee submitted FOIA requests to several relevant DOJ offices, which to date have not been adequately processed. The Committee continued to reach out to DOJ throughout 2023, having still not received a substantive response to its request for information. On January 12, 2024, the Committee received its first correspondence from DOJ on the matter. At that time, DOJ provided no substantive response or explanation for its delay; instead, DOJ simply stated that it “do[es] not provide non-public information about law enforcement investigations that
do not result in charges.” This “policy” is, however, inconsistent with DOJ’s historical conduct with respect to the Committee and its unique role in upholding the integrity of the House.

Thereafter, the Committee determined to issue a subpoena to DOJ to obtain records relating to its investigation of Representative Gaetz. DOJ did not comply with the subpoena by the date required, but suggested it remained “committed to good-faith engagement with the Committee.” In the spirit of cooperation, the Committee provided a list of specific responsive documents, setting out particularized demands to the subpoena. Among the particularized demands was a request for any exculpatory evidence relating to Representative Gaetz. On March 13, 2024, Committee Members met with the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs and the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of DOJ. The DOJ officials again cited no legal basis for failing to comply with the subpoena. DOJ subsequently requested additional context for the Committee’s demands, which the Committee provided. After further attempts at meaningful accommodation of DOJ’s concerns about the breadth of the Committee’s request, DOJ ultimately provided publicly reported information about the testimony of a deceased individual. To date, DOJ has provided no meaningful evidence or information to the Committee or cited any lawful basis for its responses. The Committee hopes to continue to engage with DOJ on the broader issues raised by its failure to recognize the Committee’s unique mandate. As the Committee has told DOJ, the Committee and DOJ should be partners in their shared mission of upholding the integrity of our government institutions.

The Committee initially made a narrowly tailored request for information to Representative Gaetz seeking information limited to the allegations that would not be within DOJ’s jurisdiction—the alleged acceptance of an improper gift and sharing of nude images and videos on the House floor.

Read the full House Ethics Committee report here.

When you drive in the winter, you have to deal with a lot of foggy windshields. What's the best way to make that fog go away? Some people will tell you to blast the heat, others to turn on the air conditioning. Who's right? And when should you just hit that "defrost" button instead? I'll explain.

To defog in cold weather, turn on the heat and the air conditioning

I’ll go into a more detailed, scientific explanation in a minute, but the short answer is that to defog the windshield quickly in cold weather, you want to turn on the heat and the air conditioning.

Yes, you can do both at once. If you have a dial that adjusts temperature, put it on the hottest setting. Then look around for a button that turns the AC on or off. Click it so it’s on.

Some cars have a button that does everything for you. My car has a windshield defrost button that does the following:

• Points the blower at the windshield

• Turns the blower on full blast and raises the temperature

• Turns the AC on

• Turns recirculation off

This is exactly what you want to do if you’re managing the controls yourself: heat on, AC on, and make sure the air is getting blown full blast on the windshield (look for the windshield icon instead of the one with the arrows pointing at the person). Turning off recirculation helps because you’ll be pulling in dry air from outdoors instead of recirculating the slightly humid air inside.

How to defog your windshield in hot weather

If you're reading this on a sweltering summer day, just turn on your windshield wipers. The fog is on the outside of your windshield, so you can just wipe it away.

What is the difference between defrosting and defogging?

OK, some definitions. Fog is made of tiny droplets of water that have condensed onto the windshield. You'll find this anytime you have a difference in temperature between two sides of the glass. The fog forms on the warmer side (which is the inside of your car, in winter).

Frost, on the other hand, is a layer of ice. You'll see it most commonly on the outside of your car, and it's what you scrape off with an ice scraper. In very cold weather, the fog on the inside of your windshield can freeze, giving you frost on the inside. Treat this the same as fog.

The rear defrost button in your car heats up a set of wires embedded in the glass. They melt the ice on the back window.

The front defrost button in your car will defrost the windshield by heating it up, and defog it by drying out the air to evaporate the fog. It's both a defogger and a defroster.

Check your car's manual for specifics on what settings your car has and how they work. The rear defrost button is very common, even in old cars; the front defrost button is a newer development but still commonly available.

The science of defogging

There are two things going on here, in the short term (seconds to minutes) and the long term (the rest of your drive).

Heat prevents fogging (and frost)

In the long term, you can prevent fogging by making sure both sides of the windshield are the same temperature. The fog on your windshield accumulates for the same reasons as a cold drink “sweating” on a hot day. When one side of the glass is significantly colder than the other, moisture from the warm air will condense on the warmer side of the glass (because the glass is cold compared to the warm air).

This means that in winter, you’ll get condensation from the warm indoor air onto the still-cold windshield. If you can warm up the windshield enough, it will stop being able to pull moisture out of the air.

In summer, it’s the opposite. If you’ve chilled the inside of the car but outdoors it’s 100 degrees, you can get moisture from the outside air condensing on your windshield. This is not a defogger situation, though: The condensation is outside, so you just wipe it off with the windshield wipers.

A/C dries up the fog that is already there

So why isn’t heat alone enough to do the job? Well, for one thing, sometimes it’s just too cold to keep the windshield warm enough to prevent fogging. But more importantly, you need to defog the windshield, not just prevent future fog. That’s why you turn on the air conditioning.

Air conditioners don’t just chill the air; they dry it out. When you run the heat and the A/C at the same time, you get hot, dry air. This starts warming the windshield while also drying up the moisture. Put the AC and heat on full blast, and often the whole windshield will clear up in seconds.

If you've heard the advice to open your windows, that can help for a similar reason: a blast of cold dry air will help to dry up the fog. But the air conditioning will usually do the same job quicker, without making your entire car cold. So I'd stick with the A/C.

How to prevent foggy car windows

Since windshield fog is caused by moisture inside the car, keeping the inside of your car dry will help. If you’ve tracked a lot of snow and slush into the car, clean it out.

You can also start warming up the windshield before it’s time to drive. If you have a remote starter, great! But even if not, the first step in getting your car ready to drive in the winter should be turning on the car and getting it warmed up. Put the heat on the windshield while you brush and scrape the outside.

And finally, consider cleaning the inside of your windshield, because clean glass doesn’t fog as easily. No, not with your hands or with those fast-food napkins you found under the seat; skin oils and miscellaneous grease and dirt will only make the problem worse. Use a proper glass cleaner like Windex.

President-elect Donald Trump sent a clear message, Sunday — amid talk on Capitol Hill and in the media that Elon Musk is calling the shots in Trump’s second term.

In a speech at a Turning Points USA forum in Phoenix, the president-elect was unequivocal in declaring that there is a ceiling to Musk’s rise.

“No, he’s not taking the presidency,” Trump said — before taking a shot at the media by claiming talk of a power struggle with Musk is a hoax. “They’re on a new kick. Russia, Russia, Russia… Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine… all the different hoaxes. And the new one is President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk. No, no, that’s not happening.”

Talk of Musk’s outsized influence ramped up this week as he took a prominent role in the budget negotiations on Capitol Hill. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief was instrumental in tanking a bipartisan deal which had been reached to fund the government by stirring up opposition with a series of posts on his social media platform X.

As the negotiations got more contentious, Democrats sarcastically called Musk “Mr. President” — and snidely alluded to the DOGE chief essentially running the country rather than Trump.

Both Trump’s team and Musk have tried to downplay such talk as Democrats trying to drive a wedge between the two. But Republicans are also referring to Musk in a similar fashion

Earlier Sunday on Face the Nation, Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX) talked up the DOGE chief’s power by saying “it feels as if Elon Musk is our prime minister.”

But Trump quickly rejected the idea that Musk is now — or ever will be — the commander-in-chief.

“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” Trump said.

The president-elect proceeded to fire off a snarky jab at Musk as well

“You know why he can’t be [president]? He wasn’t born in this country,” Trump said, laughing. “But the fake news knows that.”

Watch above, via Fox News.