David A Johnson

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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment Tuesday against President Donald Trump — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — pushing toward historic votes over charges he threatened the integrity of the U.S. election system and endangered national security in his dealings with Ukraine.

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HELSINKI (AP) — Finland became the country with the world's youngest sitting head of government Tuesday when the Nordic country's parliament chose a 34-year-old woman with liberal views and a down-to-earth style as prime minister.

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STOCKHOLM (AP) — The winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize says his horrifying experiences as a young Ethiopian soldier fueled his determination to seek an end to the long conflict with a neighboring country.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Many have noticed how fragmented our TV viewing is, with multiple competing streaming services and dozens of channels pulling us in different directions. But the year also saw some jaw-dropping moments that found huge audiences, whether it was a royal interview or a viral alien. The Associated Press has put together a list of the best TV moments in 2019.

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The Scripps National Spelling Bee will have fewer participants next year. Whether it will have fewer champions remains to be seen.

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BEIJING (AP) — Stock markets around the world fell sharply Tuesday as nervous investors watched a rapidly approaching deadline for more U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.

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STONEHAM, Mass. - December 10, 2019 - ( Newswire.com )

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Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI was justified in opening its investigation into ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia and did not act with political bias, the Justice Department's internal watchdog declared, undercutting President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he has been the target of a “witch hunt.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI was justified in opening its investigation into ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia and did not act with political bias, the Justice Department's internal watchdog declared Monday, undercutting President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he has been the target of a “witch hunt.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats have reached a tentative agreement with labor leaders and the White House over a rewrite of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal that has been a top priority for President Donald Trump.

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MIAMI (AP) — For seven nerve-wracking months, they slept through the day in cramped quarters on cold floors, while spending their nights in prayer, keeping fit with dumbbells made from water jugs and peering through the diplomatic compound's curtains for fear of surveillance.

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WENDELL, N.C. (AP) — George J. Laurer, whose invention of the Universal Product Code at IBM transformed retail and other industries around the world, has died. He was 94.

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NEW YORK (AP) — New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg launched his campaign less than three weeks ago, but he is already making his first foreign trip as a presidential candidate.

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Amazon says President Donald Trump's “improper pressure" and behind-the-scenes attacks harmed its chances of winning a $10 billion Pentagon contract.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A Netflix wave swept over the 77th Golden Globe nominations, where the streaming company dominated with 34 total nominations, including four films up for best picture and four series nominated for the top television awards.

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NEW YORK - December 9, 2019 - ( Newswire.com )

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Debating the grounds for impeachment, Republicans said there's nothing here. Democrats said it's a slam dunk.

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CHICOPEE, Mass. (AP) — More than a century ago, waves of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Poland and Quebec settled in Chicopee and other western Massachusetts mill towns, helping build churches, rectories and schools to accommodate their faith. Today the priests leading those churches are under siege due to stresses, challenges and sex abuse scandals complicating their lives and those of their fellow priests across the United States.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Kentucky law requiring doctors to perform ultrasounds and show fetal images to patients before abortions.

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The Detroit News. Dec. 4, 2019

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) has released the results of the 2019 Medical Specialties Matching Program (MSMP). The MSMP encompasses nearly all Internal Medicine subspecialties, and the 2019 Match (for appointment Year 2020) surpassed the 2018 Match to become the largest in history. Specifically, the 2019 MSMP included 6,286 applicants submitting certified rank order lists (a 6.9% increase), 1,957 programs submitting certified rank order lists (a 6.4% increase), 5,576 positions (a 6.9% increase), and 4,909 positions filled (a 7.2% increase).

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BEDMINSTER, N.J. - December 9, 2019 - ( Newswire.com )

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MINOOKA, Ill. - December 9, 2019 - ( Newswire.com )

Today president-elect Barack Obama gets to drop the "elect" and become president-proper. Whether he'll make a proper president, no one knows for sure, but everyone except bigots and professional partisans certainly has to be hoping he will, out of self-interest if not patriotism.

It's only natural when the New Year comes to start to think of all things new and yet to come.

I hate Christmas lights.

I've heard it said that the essence of music is to make people enjoy patterns without realizing it. As far as I can tell, this is true. I can't grasp music, whether I hear it, see a sheet of notes or play Guitar Hero. It's beyond me, but I like to listen.

I apologize in advance for my column this week. I had a very bad weekend, and the worst thing about it is nothing bad actually happened to me.

The other day I sat down to watch all of the old Disney films I have on VHS.

By the time Nov. 4 comes and goes, the 2008 election may prove to be the most popular in American history. Even in Texas where the national races should be safely checked off for the Republicans, there's more excitement than usual.

My friend once told me a story of an ant farm of his. For a while they went around digging, eating and digging some more. You know, typical ant stuff. Then they started to die, one after another. Bacteria in the dirt of a closed container - or some such.

If you have a basic cable package, you probably have C-SPAN and C-SPAN2. And you probably watch them about as much as if you didn't own TV. But you should watch them more (and by that I mean "some") because when you complain that "nothing is on," C-SPAN is, and you can learn a lot.

I don’t know if you noticed (or remember), but the other day the OA published its weekly poll on the subject of offshore oil drilling. Something like 87 percent of our respondents were in favor of doing it while just 13 percent were against. Not a surprising result for this area, really.

I was talking to someone the other day about the Odessa American’s online discussion forum. You may not have been aware the OA had any forums, and that’s what we were talking about.